“It is encouraging that investors are showing serious interest despite the profound crisis in the automotive industry,” emphasized Joachim Exner, managing partner of the law firm Dr. Beck und Partner. “The interested parties have presented future concepts and, if a contract is concluded, want to make WKW.group competitive again in the long term.”
IG Metall is also satisfied with the status of the M&A process. "In view of the ongoing sales crisis in the automotive industry, we are pleased that renowned investors want to acquire the WKW Group. This is a positive signal and speaks in favor of the company's location in Germany. However, the decisive factor will be what exactly the investors plan to do with the WKW Group and, above all, what impact their restructuring plan will have on employees in Germany," said Hakan Civelek, managing director of IG Metall.
The German companies of the WKW.group filed for insolvency at the end of September last year with a total of around 1,800 employees. Despite the group's difficult situation, Exner managed to quickly stabilize WKW's business operations and continue production at full capacity. In particular, Exner contacted all key customers immediately after his appointment. All of them agreed to continue working with the company even during the insolvency proceedings. IG Metall, the works council, and the workforce also did their utmost to support the restructuring process. As a result, Exner did not have to announce any layoffs even after the end of the insolvency payment period.
However, right at the start of the proceedings, Exner realized that without a financially strong investor, it would not be possible to preserve the group in the long term. He therefore initiated a structured investor process and searched worldwide for potential new owners. At the same time, he began implementing restructuring measures to prepare the group for a takeover. Due to mutual confidentiality obligations, Exner cannot disclose any information to the public about the names of interested parties, the timetable, or other details of the investor process, as is customary in investor processes.
In order to enable the sale of the group, further restructuring measures must be implemented before a purchase agreement is signed. An investor will only take over WKW.group if the group is able to operate profitably in the long term. This is all the more important given that the negative trend in the automotive industry is expected to continue for the foreseeable future.
WKW Group manufactures decorative and functional components as well as roof rail systems made of aluminum, steel, and plastic. The company's customers include numerous major German automobile manufacturers. The group most recently generated annual sales of €560 million and employs a total of 3,300 people in six countries.
Insolvency applications were initially filed by Walter Klein GmbH & Co. KG, Wuppertal, and WKW Aktiengesellschaft, Velbert. Shortly afterwards, the following companies also filed for insolvency:
- Erbslöh Aluminium GmbH, Velbert and Hemer (branch)
- WKW Engineering GmbH, Wuppertal
- WKW Roof Rail GmbH, Velbert
- WKW AnodiCoat GmbH & Co. KG, Sprockhövel
WKW Unternehmens-Akademie GmbH, Velbert, WKW Verwaltung GmbH, Velbert, and the group companies in Hungary, France, Monaco, Tunisia, and the USA are not affected by the insolvency. www.wkw-group.com
About Dr. Beck & Partner:
With eight insolvency administrators and more than 170 employees at eight locations in Bavaria, the law firm Dr. Beck & Partner GbR is one of Germany's leading insolvency administration firms. In recent years, the firm has handled numerous high-profile corporate insolvency proceedings, including group insolvencies with international implications. Joachim Exner has particular expertise in the restructuring of medium-sized corporate groups, e.g., EISENMANN, Neumayer-Tekfor, BOA-Group, Loewe, and Metz. Exner is a member of the Gravenbrucher Kreis, an association of leading German restructuring experts and insolvency administrators.
Source: www.moeller-pr.de
