The transfer of the business operations and the main assets will take place on January 4, 2021 and is still subject to various conditions. After completion of the transaction, Winkler will be able to secure a total of 253 jobs. "We are pleased that, despite the difficult initial situation, we have jointly managed to find a buyer who wants to take over and further develop two of the group's production locations," says insolvency administrator Marcus Winkler.
The intensive sales process, which lasted almost nine months, included addressing strategic and finance-oriented investors worldwide. With the shift away from the internal combustion engine towards alternative forms of drive, the casting sector in the automotive supplier industry is subject to strong consolidation pressure. Nevertheless, until the signing of the purchase agreement, Roland Berger's M&A advisory team commissioned with the investor process managed to maintain a bidding competition involving several investors for the takeover of the Schweizer Group.
Despite initially lively interest, unfortunately no investor could be found for the Hattenhofen and Murrhardt locations due to unprofitable production processes, so Winkler will now initiate full production there. Over the next few days and weeks, he will work out a plan for this together with all key stakeholders and start implementing it. In this context, he will coordinate closely with the employee representatives in order to find socially acceptable solutions for the employees who can no longer be employed.
IG Metall Regensburg and the works council at the Roding location very much regret the decision to close the two locations in Baden-Württemberg, but welcome the fact that, despite the current economic development in the automotive industry, two locations will continue and there will be prospects for the families and the region .
The employees were informed last Friday about the current status and the next steps.
Background:
At the end of January 2020, Schweizer Group Global GmbH filed for insolvency proceedings. On April 1, 2020, the Göppingen District Court, as the competent bankruptcy court, opened the insolvency proceedings against the Schweizer Group Global GmbH from Hattenhofen. The Stuttgart attorney Marcus Winkler was appointed as insolvency administrator. He was previously with the company as preliminary insolvency administrator.
The company emerged from the Schweizer Group GmbH & Co. KG, which filed for bankruptcy in February 2019 and was sold to a US investor in October 2019 as part of a transferring restructuring.
The company's roots go back to 1867, when Louis Schweizer founded his first factory in Backnang.
