"It's painful to watch, because it doesn't have to be like this. Thyssenkrupp has the potential to succeed," said Friederike Helfer, partner at Cevian and member of Thyssenkrupp's supervisory board.

Not enough has happened since the company sold its elevator unit to private equity firms earlier this year, she said.

"Thyssenkrupp continues to lose billions. The financial leeway is melting away. Competitors have acted forcefully during the Covid crisis and are leaving Thyssenkrupp further behind," she explained.

Helfer's remarks echo concerns in the financial community about Thyssenkrupp's limited competitiveness, with JP Morgan earlier saying that "operational performance of all of Thyssenkrupp's divisions lag its peers".

Helfer, who joined Thyssenkrupp's supervisory board earlier this year, said further actions and results needed to follow urgently, adding the group's management had Cevian's full support.

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz and Tom Kaeckenhoff; Editing by Edward Taylor)