A man looks underneath an Innovia Monorail 300 train by Bombardier Transportation at the InnoTrans railway technology trade fair in Berlin, in this September 25, 2014 file photo.Thomas Peter/Reuters
The head of Bombardier Inc.'s rail business, Lutz Bertling, is stepping down mere weeks after the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec acquired a 30-per-cent stake in the unit and a say in its strategic direction.
Montreal-based Bombardier said on Wednesday that Mr. Bertling is leaving "to pursue other career opportunities."
Mr. Bertling had been president of the division, Bombardier Transportation, for slightly more than 2-1/2 years. He left his position as CEO of Eurocopter to take over at BT.
He is being replaced immediately by Laurent Troger, who has been with Berlin-based BT for 11 years and had recently been promoted to chief operating officer.
"Since joining Bombardier, Laurent Troger has continuously been one of our top executives, driving superior project execution and performance across the business," Bombardier president and CEO Alain Bellemare said.
"As we accelerate our transformation, Laurent has both the leadership and the experience to deliver on our commitments to customers, while increasing profitability at Transportation."
Bombardier and the Caisse said last month that the pension fund giant's investment was a "partnership" that included the creation of a new board to independently govern chronically underperforming BT.
Three of the seven directors on the new board are to be Caisse appointees and its investment is closely tied to a set of performance incentives for BT, which has failed to deliver on its profit-margin targets over several years.
Asked if the Caisse was supportive of Mr. Bertling as president or if it requested he step down, Caisse spokesman Maxime Chagnon said "we don't have any comment."
With files from Nicolas Van Praet