Lenzing AG

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Lenzing AG

logo
legal form Corporation
ISIN AT0000644505
founding 1938
Seat Lenzing , AustriaAustriaAustria 
management
  • Stefan Doboczky (CEO)
  • Robert van de Kerkhof (CCO)
  • Thomas Obendrauf (CFO)
  • Stephan Sielaff (CTO)
Number of employees 6,488
sales 2,259.4 million € (2017)
Branch Conglomerate
Website lenzing.com
As of December 31, 2017

Headquarters and plant in Lenzing, striking the red brick building with a cube-shaped top and several clock faces (May 2011)

The Lenzing Group is a global company that produces fibers from the raw material wood. These fibers are the starting material for a large number of textile and nonwovens applications, but are also used in technical applications as well as in protective and work clothing. It is named after the Upper Austrian market town of Lenzing , where the company is based.

Company profile

Lenzing mainly produces and sells viscose fibers (Modal) and Lyocell fibers based on cellulose , which are used in the textile industry - in the areas of clothing, home textiles and technical textiles - as well as in the nonwovens industry. The company is also active in mechanical and plant engineering. The Lenzing Group markets its products under the brand names TENCEL ™, REFIBRA ™, EcoVero ™, VEOCEL ™ and LENZING ™.

Company history

The company's history can be traced back to 1892. The Ternitz factory owner Emil Hamburger bought the "Starlingermühle" in Lenzing and built a pulp and paper factory in it. The "Mühle in der Au" in Pettighofen was expanded.

1907 under the leadership was Anglo-Austrian bank , the Lenzing papermill-Aktiengesellschaft in Vienna founded. The object of the company was initially the acquisition and development of the cellulose and paper factory owned by Emil Hamburger in Lenzing, the paper factory and wood grinding shop in Pettighofen and the wood grinding shop and sawmill in Schörfling .

In 1935/36 the majority of shares was acquired by the Bunzl family and the company became part of the interests of Bunzl & Biach AG , Vienna. The company was expanded and modernized.

After Austria was incorporated into the German Reich, the Thuringian Zellwolle AG , Schwarza / Saale founded Zellwolle Lenzing AG in Lenzing at the end of May 1938 , with Austrian industry subscribing 50% of the share capital. At the beginning of July, construction of a new rayon factory began in Lenzing. Production started in September 1939. The NS multifunctional SS-Brigadführer Walther Schieber became the general director . In the course of the " Aryanization " of the Bunzl Group by the Oesterreichische Kontrollbank für Industrie und Handel , Lenzinger Papierfabrik-Aktiengesellschaft, renamed in 1939 as Lenzinger Zellstoff- und Papierfabrik AG , was incorporated into the company. The merged company was renamed Lenzinger Zellwolle- und Papierfabrik Aktiengesellschaft . In order to remedy the labor shortage caused by the ongoing conscription for military service, forced laborers were soon used. Three warehouses were built on the site of the disused Pettighofen paper mill on Agerstrasse. People from more than 17 nations were housed in the "civil workers camp" (Wohnlager 505). The "Russian barrack" was set up for Russian prisoners of war. Most recently, an external command of the Mauthausen concentration camp was set up to deploy female concentration camp prisoners. The first women came from Mauthausen to Lenzing on November 3, 1944, and in January 1945 the peak was reached with 565 women. The camp was liberated by the 3rd US Army on May 8, 1945 after Paul Le Caër informed the troops of the camp's existence.

The planned destruction of the plant was prevented by resistance groups.

At the end of the 1940s, the entire complex of social operations comprised a wood grinding shop, a pulp and paper factory and a rayon plant in Lenzing, a sawmill in Schörfling and a hydropower plant in Lenzing and Pettighofen. Spun rayon, paper, wood pulp, sawn timber, Glauber's salt (as a waste product) were produced. The number of employees at that time was over 2,300 workers and employees. In 1949 the Lenzing pulp and paper factory, which had been taken over in 1940, was returned to the previous owners of this company before 1938 (the Bunzl-Group Holding AG , Zug / Switzerland), which in turn brought it into the restored Lenzinger Zellulose- und Papierfabrik AG . At the same time, the company name was changed back to the original form Zellwolle Lenzing AG . The various economic cross-connections that continue to exist between the social and the separate business premises were taken into account through suitable agreements. In 1962 the company was changed to Chemiefaser Lenzing Aktiengesellschaft with a view to the intended start of the production of synthetic fibers . At that time, the company's assets comprised the cellulose fiber factory, a cellulose glass factory that went into operation in autumn 1951, and its own power station. In 1964 an agreement was concluded with Courtaulds Limited , London, which provides for close cooperation in the field of research, processes and production for viscose fibers. In 1965 the construction of a plant for sulfuric acid production began in Lenzing, which went into operation at the end of the same year. In 1967 a plant for the production of synthetic foils and tapes made of polyethylene and polypropylene for the packaging industry was built. In 1966, together with the Farbwerke Hoechst AG, former Master Lucius & Brüning , Frankfurt a. M. founded Austria Fiberwerke GesmbH , which set up a plant in Lenzing that went into operation in 1967 for the production of polyester fibers with the brand name Trevira as well as converter and tear-off cables made of polyethylene terephthalate according to a licensing process from Farbwerke Hoechst AG .

In 1969 the company acquired all of the shares in Lenzinger Zellulose- und Papierfabrik AG , with which a close economic cooperation had existed for years. This company was merged into Chemiefaser Lenzing AG .

In 1979 the company received the state award and has been allowed to use the federal coat of arms in business transactions ever since .

In 1984 the company was given the current name Lenzing AG . A year later, their shares were traded on the Vienna Stock Exchange.

The main shareholder of Lenzing AG today, with 67.6 percent, is the Austrian investment company B&C Industrieholding GmbH , a management holding of the B&C private foundation that acts independently of the economic or political interests of third parties.

Holdings

The most important subsidiary of the company is PT. South Pacific Viscose , the world's largest producer of viscose materials .

In 2008, the polyacrylic fiber division (DOLAN) of Kelheim Fibers GmbH was taken over, the other fiber divisions could not be sold to Lenzing for antitrust reasons.

Since July 28, 2009, the Lenzing Group has owned 40% of the Indonesian holding company Pura Golden Lion  (PGL), a trading company that handles local fiber sales for PT. South Pacific Viscose operates. Lenzing is thereby also strengthening its position in the East and Southeast Asian fiber market and indirectly increasing its stake in the subsidiary PT. South Pacific Viscose from 86% to around 91%. Another production line went into operation there at the end of October 2012. With 320,000 tons / year, South Pacific Viscose is currently the largest viscose fiber plant in the world.

In April 2010 Lenzing AG took over 75% of the Czech pulp manufacturer Biocel Paskov  AS. The seller was the Austrian Heinzel Holding, which retained a 25% stake in the company and was still responsible for the distribution of paper pulp. In October 2012, Lenzing also took over the remaining 25%.

Lenzing Plastics GmbH was sold to Invest AG. In the 2012 financial year, Lenzing Plastics GmbH generated sales of EUR 109.4 million with an EBITDA of EUR 11.2 million.

In a joint venture with Duratex (49%), a large manufacturer of wood panels in the southern hemisphere, a pulp mill is to be built near São Paulo in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais with debt financing of USD 1.3 billion . Commissioning is planned for the first half of 2022.

Locations

In Europe, in addition to the headquarters in Lenzing (Upper Austria), there are branches in Heiligenkreuz (Burgenland), in Grimsby in England and in Paskov (Czech Republic). Further company locations are in Mobile (United States), in Purwakarta ( Indonesia ) and in Nanjing, China . Offices are maintained in New York , Istanbul , Singapore , Seoul , Shanghai , Hong Kong , Jakarta and Coimbatore .

Tencel fabric T-shirt

A new Tencel production facility was built at the main location in Lenzing and has been producing 67,000 tons of cellulose fibers annually since July 2014. The investment volume was around € 150 million. This means that Lenzing is currently the largest integrated pulp and viscose fiber plant in the world.

Processor

Borckenstein - insolvency proceedings since the beginning of 2019 - in Neudau , Styria, spun cellulose fibers from Lenzing AG into yarns, over 90% of which are exported.

Criticism and controversy

According to a report by the Ukrainian newspaper Kyiv Post , Lenzing AG is involved in corruption and illegal timber trade with Ukraine. According to the newspaper, the London-based environmental monitoring company Earthsight has found out that the Austrian companies Schweighofer , Kronospan , Lenzing, JAF Group as well as the Swiss company Swiss-Krono and a Polish factory of the American group International Paper are involved in illegal activities relating to the import of Ukrainian wood into the EU are involved. The investigation found evidence that roundwood from Ukraine was misleadingly labeled as firewood in customs declarations in order to circumvent the ban on roundwood exports in force since 2015 and the ban on pine wood exports in place since 2017.

Prior to this, journalistic investigations by reporters from the Kiev Post and the project for reporting on organized crime and corruption found evidence of the involvement of the Austrian company Schweighofer in illegal logging in Ukraine. Schweighofer has also called on the European Union to put pressure on the Ukrainian government officials to lift the moratorium, according to the results of the investigation.

According to the latest report by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) , up to a quarter of Carpathian wood is illegally felled - without a permit and in unauthorized areas such as national parks. That corresponds to one million cubic meters of wood per year.

literature

  • Roman Sandgruber : Lenzing: Anatomy of an industrial foundation in the Third Reich , Linz 2010, ISBN 3900313962
  • Franz Enhuber: Economic history of Lenzing AG from 1949 to 1980 , diploma thesis, Linz 2012, 132 pp.

Web links

Commons : Lenzing AG  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 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. new CEO from June 1, 2015 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lenzing.com
  2. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from February 21, 2014 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lenzing.com
  3. ↑ http://www.lenzing.com/press/presseinformationen/detail/article/2015/11/01/lenzing-ag-beabsichtigt-thomas-obendrauf-zum-neuen-finanzvorstand-zu-bestellen.html CFO Riegler resigned
  4. ↑ http://www.lenzing.com/lenzing-gruppe/management/vorstand.html new board
  5. ↑ a b Annual Report 2017 , accessed March 23, 2017
  6. ^ Lenzing Group. Retrieved May 24, 2018 .
  7. ↑ The history of the market town of Lenzing , accessed on March 21, 2015
  8. ↑ Compass 1908, Volume II, Financial Yearbook, p. 716 (direct link via ZEDHIA on p. 716 )
  9. ↑ a b c Lenzing Group: 75 years of innovation - an eventful history , Annual Report 2012, accessed on March 22, 2015
  10. ↑ Die Presse: Lenzing 1938: The largest industrial Aryanization , December 18, 2010, accessed on March 21, 2015
  11. ↑ Zentralblatt for entries in the Austrian commercial register 1939, p. 519 (direct link via ZEDHIA on p. 519 )
  12. ↑ Finanz Compass Austria 1950, p. 830 (direct link via ZEDHIA on p. 830 )
  13. ^ Mauthausen-Aktiv-Vöcklabruck, Christian Hawle, Gerhard Kriechbaum, Margrit Lehner: Perpetrators and victims: National Socialist violence and resistance in the Vöcklabruck district; 1938-1945; a documentation , 1995, ISBN 3852520762 . (P. 32 ff., With a map of the three camps)
  14. ↑ Finanz Compass Austria 1969, p. 829 (direct link via ZEDHIA on p. 829 )
  15. ↑ Zentralblatt for entries in the Austrian commercial register 1969, p. 1034 (direct link via ZEDHIA on p. 1034 )
  16. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from March 5, 2016 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. ... bearers of the national coat of arms @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.staatswappen.at
  17. ^ Lenzing AG: Lenzing Group, history ; Retrieved September 21, 2011
  18. ↑ Lenzing AG: Lenzing Group factsheet. (PDF; 8.7 MB) Retrieved August 28, 2015 .
  19. ↑ B&C Private Foundation: The Path to Becoming an Independent Supporter of Austria as a Business Location ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bcprivatstiftung.at 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. , B&C private foundation, history
  20. ↑ Chemie.at: Lenzing Group enlarges share in PT. South Pacific Viscose continues from ; accessed on March 30, 2013
  21. ↑ Lenzing Group: Successful start of the fifth line at the Indonesian subsidiary SPV . lenzing.com. November 6, 2012. Archived from the original on November 9, 2012. 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. Retrieved May 19, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lenzing.com
  22. ↑ Industriemagazin.net: Lenzing takes over 100% of Biocel Paskov October 3, 2012, accessed on November 3, 2012
  23. ↑ Lenzing sells Business Unit Plastics . lenzing.com. April 17, 2013. Archived from the original on April 23, 2013. 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. Retrieved May 19, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lenzing.com
  24. ↑ Lenzing project worth billions in Brazil orf.at, December 20, 2019, accessed December 20, 2019.
  25. ^ Lenzing Group. Retrieved May 24, 2018 .
  26. ↑ Press release - The world's largest TENCEL facility in operation in 2014
  27. ↑ Largest pulp and viscose fiber plant
  28. ↑ http://www.borckenstein.com/pages/de/categories/company-profile/unsere-partner.php Our partners in the textile process, Borckenstein website, (c) 2013, accessed February 12, 2016.
  29. ↑ UK researchers, Ukraine officials face off over illegal timber exports to EU | KyivPost . In: KyivPost . November 9, 2018 ( kyivpost.com [accessed November 28, 2018]).
  30. ↑ Romana Puiulet and Anna Babinets: Clear Cut Crimes. Retrieved November 28, 2018 .
  31. ↑ EU presses Ukraine to end lumber export ban - Dec. 09, 2016 . In: KyivPost . December 9, 2016 ( kyivpost.com [accessed November 28, 2018]).