Wassenberg is currently CFO at Rolls-Royce Power Systems in southern Germany, where he has been in post for more than four years. Prior to that he spent five years at offshore and onshore wind turbine manufacturer Senvion. He has nearly 25 years’ experience in finance and audit.

He will officially take over from long-serving incumbent Dirk Kaliebe at €2.5bn (£2.28bn) turnover Heidelberg on 1 September. There will be a transition period afterwards with Kaliebe, who announced in May that he would be stepping down at the end of September.

Wassenberg is joining the world’s largest press manufacturer at a challenging time for the company. Heidelberg downgraded its profit forecasts for the full year last month, although the group subsequently reported a better start to Q2 trading.

Heidelberg’s share price has been on the slide and fell to a new all-time-low of €0.85 this week.

Dr Siegfried Jaschinski, chairman of the Heidelberg supervisory board said the group was pleased to have secured Wassenberg’s services and he would bring a lot of relevant know-how to the role.

“With his experience in the mechanical and plant engineering industry, he will align Heidelberg's future financial framework with the requirements of digital transformation and further stabilise the balance sheet,” Jaschinski said. 

“In addition, he has successfully implemented change projects to increase efficiency, making him a well-suited new CFO for Heidelberg.”

Wassenberg is likely to relocate as Heidelberg's HQ is around 300km away from the Rolls-Royce Power Systems operation.