MUNICH, Germany — Against the background of towering losses and an increasingly difficult economic situation, Infineon considers every option, CEO Peter Bauer assured at the company's Annual General Meeting. The set of options includes changing its legal form.

Infineon's supervisory board chairman Max Kley said at the meeting that changing Infineon's legal form from a German corporation (Aktiengesellschaft) to European Company (Societas Euroepea, SE) is one of the options. The move would give the company a higher degree of freedom as to selecting the country for the registered office and its management structure.

At the meeting, the company had to admit that its financial situation is very difficult: During the current year, Infineon will have to pay back credits of € 200 million (about $260 million) plus an additional amount of €700 million due in 2010. Industry watchers believe given the current economical environment it will be very difficult for Infineon to refinance these amounts.

Against the background of continuing market weakness, Bauer announced to continue the company's IFX10+ cost cutting program. To set an example, he said he will waive 20 percent of its fixed salary; the other three board members will get 10 percent less payment.

Kley who is said to be Infineon's grey eminence and chairs the company's supervisory board since the year 2002, was slapped by angry shareholders for the seemingly endless decline of the chip vendor's share price. Kley was ratified only by a razor-thin plurality of 50.03 percent. Bauer got 61 percent of the votes, also a weak result.

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