Under the umbrella of a holding company, Montan Operations is organised in units.

It is the function of the holding company to ensure planning an development of the group's business portfolio, to choose a coherent set of stragtegies and objectives; to monitor their implementation and the efficiency of the corresponding management tools and processes, to select the upper-level management, to manage corporate finance and outside share holdings, controlling, tax planning, management information systems, communication and investor relations.

As a holding company, the company is a legal entity separate and distinct from its subsidiaries (business units).

Accordingly, the right of the company, and thus the right of the company's creditors and stockholders to participate in any distribution of the assets or earings of any subsidiary is subject to the claims of the creditors of the subsidiary, except to the extent that claims of the company itself as a creditor of such subsidiary may be recognized, in which event the company's claims may in certain circumstances be subordinate to certain claims of others. In addition, as a holding company, a principal source of the company's unconsolidated revenues and funds is dividends and other payments from subsidiaries. The company's principal subsidiaries currently are not limited by long-term debt or other agreements in their abilities to pay cash dividends or to make other distributions with respect to their capital stock or other payments to the company.

The business units operate seperately within the framework of defined strategies and objectives; they are responsible for investments, research and development, manufacturing, quality, marketing and sales, human resources, logistics, finance and control. Group executives lead their business units in line with the holding's objectives as businessmen with strong enterpreneurial drive and responsibility.