Honsel
| Martinrea Honsel Germany GmbH | |
|---|---|
| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1908 |
| Seat |
Meschede , Germany
|
| management | Juan Nardiz, Rob Wildeboer |
| Number of employees | 1,828 |
| sales | 402.3 million euros |
| Branch | Automotive supplier |
| Website | www.martinrea-honsel.com |
| As of December 31, 2014 | |
Honsel (now Martinrea Honsel Germany GmbH) is a supplier of light metal components. The company develops and produces products made of aluminum and magnesium in all common manufacturing processes of casting , extrusion and rolling for engines, transmissions, chassis and bodies of cars and commercial vehicles. There are also products for mechanical engineering and other applications. Components from Honsel reduce vehicle weight, fuel consumption and emissions and make a significant contribution to environmental protection. Before the bankruptcy in 2010, Honsel had locations in Germany, Romania, Spain, Brazil and Mexico. Almost 3,000 employees, including around 1,500 in the Sauerland, generated sales of EUR 500–600 million (2009/2010).
History of Honsel
Foundation and development until 1945
The trained engraver and mold maker Fritz Honsel (1888–1964) founded the company Aluminum Werke Gebr. Honsel in Werdohl in 1908 to manufacture cutlery made of aluminum. It was the first company that could remelt aluminum. In 1911 the company moved to Versevoerde and a factory was built in Werdohl- Eveking at the same time . The production of aluminum chill casting began. During the First World War (1917) the company built a new plant in Meschede with what was then the largest aluminum remelting facility. In 1919 the company expanded with the construction of an aluminum rolling mill. At the height of the post-war boom (1922) the company was converted into a public limited company. In the course of a concentration process, the company headquarters and most of the production were relocated to Meschede in 1925. Aluminum scrap was reprocessed in a specially managed recycling process and high-quality assembly parts were produced from it at low cost under the responsibility of a specially established R&D department. With the boom in the automotive industry in the 1930s, Honsel became an important supplier for leading automotive manufacturers. As early as 1929, the Meschede plant was expanded to include a die casting foundry. In 1933, Honsel-Werke produced magnesium parts using the permanent mold casting process for the first time. The engine blocks and gearbox of the " VW Beetle " were made from a magnesium alloy. In 1936 a block rolling mill for processing cast formats (bars) was built. The Werdohl operations department became the property of Otto Honsel in the same year and became independent. During the Second World War , the Meschede plant produced for the needs of the military until it was completely destroyed shortly before the end of the war in 1945.
Rise in the post-war period
In 1947, Honsel again employed 250 people. However, the British occupation authorities continued to include the plant in the list of companies to be dismantled until 1948, and there was a risk of total dismantling at times.
During the “economic miracle”, the company was able to build on the pre-war tradition as an automotive supplier. In 1953 the production of aluminum profiles by extrusion using a 1250 t profile press, which is still in operation today, began. In the 1960s and 1970s, other parts of the company followed. The financing was provided by the reorganization into a listed stock corporation, which, however, replaced the third-party ownership after a few years. 1974 was a pressing plant with a 2,000-t extrusion press in Soest built, and together with the company Heraeus , the titanium aluminum investment casting GmbH (now TITAL ) in Bestwig founded. In 1982 the Mönig company in Nuttlar , which is responsible for tool and mold construction, was taken over. In 2004 this area won the “ Excellence in Production ” competition in the “Internal toolmaking with less than 100 employees” category. In the 1990s, the boom was followed by an economic crisis that caused 600 employees to lose their jobs in Meschede alone.
In 1994 Honsel took a majority stake in the French foundries Fonderie Messier SA and Arudy and Fonderie Messial SA , Bondoufle . In 1995, Honsel-Werke AG was renamed Honsel AG as the Honsel Group's holding company. The foundation stone for Fonderie Lorraine SA was laid in Grosbliederstroff , France , and VAW also took over Alumetall in Nuremberg .
Takeover by financial investors from 1999
In 1999, 72 percent of the family business was sold for around € 60.4 million to one of the then largest US private equity funds , the Carlyle Group , which then converted the company into a limited partnership . In addition, the shares in TITAL in Bestwig were sold. In 2000, Honsel merged with AMCAN Consolitaded Technologies Corp., which is also owned by Carlyle . (ACT) to HONSEL International Technologies SA (HIT) .
In 2004, Ripplewood Holdings bought the company. The acquisition costs of the financial investor were transferred to Honsel as loans, so that the company suffered from an immense debt burden. Despite good business, this led to financial difficulties. On April 1, 2008, Honsel GmbH was again converted into an AG.
In December 2008, it became known that Honsel's owners and creditors were working on a moratorium on the company's liabilities. A standstill agreement with interest deferrals was agreed. The financial restructuring was completed in July 2009. The main shareholder Ripplewood Holdings holds 51% of the shares, a consortium of lenders led by the investment funds Bluebay Asset Management and Oaktree, holds 49% of the shares in Honsel AG.
Bankruptcy and the further course until 2015
On October 25, 2010, Honsel files for bankruptcy at the Arnsberg District Court. According to the company, no agreement could have been reached on another restructuring concept. "Urgently needed funds that would have flowed into the company in the course of the restructuring are therefore not available.
A first restructuring step was the sale of the French subsidiary Fonderie Lorraine SAS to ZF Friedrichshafen AG . The announcement was made on November 12, 2010.
On May 5, 2011 it was announced that a consortium consisting of the Canadian automotive supplier Martinrea and the financial investor Anchorage had been awarded the contract as new owners and investors. Martinrea will take over the majority and industrial leadership. As stated in the announcement, all 4,300 employees will be taken over.
On July 8, 2011, the sale of the Honsel plant in Nuremberg to ZF Friedrichshafen AG was announced. The ZF management announced the takeover of the employees (750 employees and almost 150 temporary workers). In Nuremberg, Honsel mainly produced housings for car gearboxes and gearbox parts from the light materials aluminum and magnesium.
As the insolvency administrator Frank Kebekus announced at the beginning of August, the restructuring of Honsel was completed in July 2011. Then Martinrea Honsel Germany GmbH took over the Meschede, Soest and Nuttlar locations. The plants in Spain, Mexico and Brazil were taken over by further subsidiaries of Martinrea.
On June 6, 2012 it became known that 37 newly concluded training contracts by Martinrea Honsel had already been terminated before the start of the training without giving any reason.
The Soest press shop was sold to the aluminum specialist Hammerer Aluminum Industries (HAI) from Austria on September 1, 2015 . The Soest location will remain with its 240 employees.
Today's fields of activity
With its core activities in the automotive sector (engine, transmission, chassis, body) as well as in mechanical engineering and aircraft construction, Honsel is a development and series supplier to international automobile manufacturers and their major system suppliers. There are also cast parts for mechanical engineering and numerous other applications (example: cladding for Bulthaup kitchens).
Locations in Germany
Martinrea Honsel Germany GmbH
Location Brazil
Location Spain
Mexico location
literature
- Tanja Bessler-Worbs / Klaus Pradler: Discoveries. Documents from company history collections in south-eastern Westphalia. Arnsberg, 2001, p. 106
- 100 years of Honsel - innovation based on tradition: Anniversary book for the 100th anniversary of the Honsel company . Meschede, 2008, ISBN 978-3-930264-71-1
Web links
- Company website
- Early documents and newspaper articles on Honsel in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Imprint ( Memento of the original from August 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Federal Gazette : Annual financial statements for the business year from 01/01/2014 to 12/31/2014
- ↑ Beffort, O. and Rohr, L., EMPA Thun: Magnesium composite materials - new lightweight construction concepts for the beginning century
- ^ Süddeutsche Zeitung : Grasshopper dismantles automotive supplier , October 25, 2010
- ^ Honsel: Despite the lull "on a good path" , Der Westen, January 25, 2009.
- ↑ FTD: Auto supplier Honsel is broke ( memento of October 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), October 25, 2010
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated February 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://boerse.dab-bank.de/maerkte-kurse/boersennachrichten/details/188875042.html?squid=060202s1aO10VOHFOZlf1w ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from August 17, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.automobilwoche.de/article/20110803/REPOSITORY/110809963/1293/honsel-sanierung-beendet
- ↑ http://www.soester-anzeiger.de/lokales/soest/martinrea-honsel-verkauf-soester-pressewerk-5364428.html
- ↑ Old Honsel factory in Soest - buyer HAI keine Heuschrecke Westfalenpost from August 28, 2015
Coordinates: 51 ° 20 ′ 52.1 ″ N , 8 ° 17 ′ 27.3 ″ E