Kiekert
| Kiekert AG
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | 1857 |
| Seat |
Heiligenhaus , Germany
|
| Number of employees | 6,500 |
| sales | 880 million euros |
| Branch | Automotive supplier |
| Website | www.kiekert.com |
| As of July 1, 2017 | |
The Kiekert AG is an industrial company based in Heiligenhaus ( Nordrhein-Westfalen ) and global market and technology leader in locking systems for automobiles. The company belongs to the Chinese Norinco group.
history
The company was founded in Heiligenhaus in the Isenbügel district in 1857 as a lock and fittings factory by Arnold Kiekert - at that time as Arnold Kiekert and Sons (AKS). In 1888 the production facility was relocated to Heiligenhaus Mitte (50,000 m²). On October 2, 2007, the company headquarters was relocated to Höseler Platz 2 (former Hartmann & Braun site). The buildings at the old company headquarters were demolished. In 1976 the company Tack & Gabel (TAGA) from Wuppertal, a supplier for car locks, was taken over. In 1982, when Kiekert was heavily indebted, the chairmanship of the management was taken over by Horst Werner Sterzenbach, who at the end of 1987, when it was up for sale, with the Dr. Sterzenbach & Rau Vermögensverwaltungsgesellschaft had taken over. In 1990 Kiekert Automatiktüren GmbH, which manufactured entrance doors for buses and rail vehicles, was sold to the Austrian IFE Group (today part of the Knorr-Bremse Group ). In 1994 the various parts of the company were merged to form Kiekert AG - TAGA was sold to the Nier Feuerhand company - in order to bring Kiekert AG to the stock exchange in 1995.
In 1998, Kiekert hit the headlines when the Ford factory in Cologne had to temporarily stop production because Kiekert no longer supplied door locks. The alleged reason for the delivery bottleneck was a lightning strike, which led to IT problems at Kiekert. Kiekert declined the assistance of Ford experts in repairing the damage; Instead, Ford was informed that employees would be highly motivated to repair the damage if they knew that the car company was adhering to an existing framework agreement. This had guaranteed Kiekert the status of sole supplier for door locks for ten years and had recently been challenged by Ford. Some also suspected a demonstration against the ongoing price pressure by the automobile manufacturers on the suppliers as the real reason.
In 2000, Schroder Ventures Europe (now Permira ) acquired the majority in Kiekert for 530 million euros; In 2002 the remaining shareholders were compensated through a squeeze-out . In 2005, the property in Heiligenhaus was sold to LEG NRW in order to enable the production facility to be relocated to a new building in Heiligenhaus. The move was completed in September 2007.
In October 2006, Kiekert was taken over by the hedge funds BlueBay Asset Management and Silver Point Capital and the US investment bank Morgan Stanley ; Permira was replaced as a major shareholder. Permira had miscalculated during the Kiekert takeover (Kiekert was unable to earn the interest on the debt imposed on him to refinance the takeover) and had to cede the equity investment without consideration.
In 2007, Kiekert AG employed around 4,300 people - including around 1,100 in Heiligenhaus - and achieved an annual turnover of more than 500 million euros. The company has production facilities all over the world (Germany, USA, Czech Republic, Mexico, Great Britain) and is a supplier to many large automobile manufacturers (VW, GM, BMW, Ford and many more). In addition, in 2008 Kiekert set up its own development and production site in Asia in the city of Changshu , near Shanghai.
As of August 1, 2008, the “Kiekert Electronics” department was transferred to competitor Huf . The Huf Group now has its own electronics production facility. The new name of the company is Huf Electronics GmbH.
In March 2012, Kiekert was sold to the listed Chinese auto supplier HeBei LingYun Industrial Group Corporation Ltd. which belongs to the industrial conglomerate China North Industries (Norinco).
Since then, Kiekert has continuously expanded its locations worldwide. In 2012, Kiekert doubled the production capacity of its location in China. In 2013, the world's largest lock production site in the Czech Republic was completed by a new production building. In 2014, locations in Russia and a sales office in Brazil were opened.
In 2015, the Chinese production site in Zhengzhou was also acquired. Since 2017, Kiekert has been developing and producing door locking systems with the Korean automotive supplier KwangJin in the jointly opened joint venture in Korea.
In 2017, the automotive supplier employed 6,500 people in eight production, six development and three sales centers worldwide. In 2017 the total turnover was around 830 million euros. [outdated]
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b 160 years of Kiekert - Kiekert paves the way for the "autonomous door". In: press release. Kiekert AG, July 25, 2017, accessed on December 13, 2017 .
- ↑ Florian Langenscheidt , Bernd Venohr (Hrsg.): Lexicon of German world market leaders. The premier class of German companies in words and pictures . German Standards Editions, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-86936-221-2 .
- ↑ a b c d http://www.kiekert.com/de/unternehmen/historie , history on the company's website, March 14, 2018.
- ↑ AUTO INDUSTRY: Upside Down World . In: Der Spiegel . No. 26 , 1998 ( online ). Available March 14, 2018.
- ↑ https://www.huf-group.com/menue/profil/?L=1 under History, 2008; accessed March 14, 2018.
- ^ German auto supplier: Chinese take over Kiekert . Handelsblatt , March 13, 2012
- ↑ Lingyun takes over Kiekert AG . Automobile Week, March 13, 2012
- ↑ http://www.kiekert.com/de/unternehmen/profil under "Facts and Figures", accessed March 14, 2018.
Coordinates: 51 ° 19 ′ 28 " N , 6 ° 57 ′ 22" E