Libro

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PL Handelsgesellschaft mbH

logo
legal form GmbH
founding Foundation: 2002
(Originally: 1978)
Seat Guntramsdorf
management Susanne Schürz, Michael Kremser
Number of employees approx. 1200 (Oct. 2019)
Branch retail trade
Website libro.at

Libro is a brand of the Austrian retail chain PL Handelsgesellschaft mbH, which is active in the fields of schools, gift giving and multimedia. Libro operates around 200 branches throughout Austria.

"Libro old"

history

The Libro company was founded in 1978 as a 100% subsidiary of the Billa Group by Karl Wlaschek and was initially only a book discounter. The range was later expanded to include music, paper and stationery.

In 1984 the already ailing book discount store was transferred from the group management Karl Wlaschek and Veit Schalle to André Rettberg for restructuring. After the 1996 takeover of Wlaschek's group BML Vermögensverwaltungs AG (“Billa Group”) (today: Rewe International ) by the German REWE Group, Libro initially remained in Karl Wlaschek's private foundation. In the same year, the BML also took over Librodisk Buch- und SchallplattenhandelsgesmbH (Libro) . In a management buy-out at the end of 1997, the company was sold to a consortium consisting of Unternehmens Invest AG (UIAG), Deutsche Beteiligungs AG (DBAG) and individual investors, including Libro CEO Rettberg and Libro CFO Johann Knöbl, sold. At that time, the retail chain, with 1,400 employees in 220 branches and sales of 254 million euros, was one of the six largest booksellers in the German-speaking area.

In June 1998 a part of the subgroup Oberösterreichischer Landesverlag , the Landesverlag GesmbH (according to AEIOU : Landesverlag Holding Ges. M. B. H ), with the book trade chain Amadeus, was taken over from the Passau publishing group . In March 1999 the LANDESVERLAG Handelsgesellschaft mbH was renamed LIBRO Management GmbH . The company also expanded to Germany, where eleven boulevard branches were taken over by Bertelsmann . "In retrospect, the expansion in Germany turned out to be a chump" (Wirtschaftsblatt, 2009). In June 1999 rose André Rettberg into the then booming Internet market and founded the subsidiary Libro Lion.cc . On November 10, 1999, Libro was floated on the stock exchange at an issue price of (converted) EUR 29 per share . Libro became Libro AG and achieved total net sales of ATS 4.3 billion (around EUR 312.5 million) in the 1998/99 financial year with more than 250 branches (including the Amadeus branches taken over by Landesverlag).

While André Rettberg was named “Manager of the Year” in 1999 as a celebrated restructuring engineer, Libro's decline began. At the end of the 1999/2000 financial year in February 2000, the loss zone was reached. From Christmas 2000 Libro finally struggled with liquidity problems, at the beginning of 2001 the Libro problems became clearly visible. No investor was found. In September 2001 the share fell 39 percent to one euro, so that a capital cut was resolved at the general meeting.

On May 1, 2001, just before the balance was reached, CFO Knöbl was sent to Germany for restructuring and replaced on the board with Werner Steinbauer. André Rettberg, as CEO, wanted to concentrate on the reorganization of the retail sector. With the new restructuring concept approved by the Supervisory Board, the aim was to bring the turnaround back into profitability. The board wanted to separate the Libro Austria and Amadeus divisions more clearly in the future . The latter especially with products for mobile telephony ( Telekom Austria was a shareholder at the time). Unprofitable branches should be closed and personnel costs should be saved. The concept of the Amadeus multimedia houses, aimed at urban customers, was successful at the time and the Amadeus concept was well received by customers. With WAZ , a strategic partner was found for Lion.cc who, after approval by antitrust law in January 2001, secured 35% liquidity. They withdrew from the content area with Lion.cc , in future business should be done with e-commerce . From the end of 2000 the second management level was expanded and (additional) managing directors were installed for the individual subsidiaries.

In June 2001 Libro registered creditor claims with recognized creditor claims of 240 million euros.

In mid-April 2002 Libro would have needed another injection of funds from the banks as a result of the weak economy. But they didn't want to give Libro a bridging loan and ultimately pushed for an investor. At the beginning of June 2002 the Libro share was quoted at EUR 14.99; only 120 shares were traded. Negotiations were conducted with Donau Design , but they failed on June 17th due to the conditions imposed by the banks. Libro had to file for bankruptcy, according to the KSV , the liabilities amounted to 380 million euros. The Amadeus branches were taken over by the Thalia book group in 2002 .

After Konsum and the construction company Maculan , the Libro bankruptcy was the third largest insolvency proceedings in Austria since 1954.

The bankruptcy process lasted 14 years (2002 to 2016) and it achieved a rate of 12.2%.

In November 2002 around a consortium around the industrialist Josef Taus Libro was bought out of the bankruptcy estate for 5 million euros, see below, "Libro new" .

Crime Libro

From March 2003, André Rettberg was the first accused in criminal proceedings. According to the court spokesman for the Wiener Neustadt regional court, he was accused of “fraud, breach of trust, negligent crime and incorrect statements in accordance with Section 255 of the German Stock Corporation Act”. In 2006 he was convicted by the Regional Court of Wiener Neustadt for concealing his private assets from creditors, and the Supreme Court upheld the guilty verdict. The sentence of three years imprisonment, eight months of which was unconditional, which was challenged by Rettberg, was confirmed by the Higher Regional Court in Vienna in September 2008 and subsequently became final.

The main proceedings in the Libro investor scandal broke down in 2002 and only opened on January 17, 2011. On October 14, 2009, it became known that the public prosecutor's office in Wiener Neustadt had brought charges against five people. In addition to Rettberg, it was the former Libro CFO Johann Knöbl, the chairman of the supervisory board and his deputy, Kurt Stiassny and Christian Nowotny, and the auditor Bernhard Huppmann.

In August 2010 the WAZ filed a criminal complaint with the Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office against Rettberg and other people. WAZ claims financial shifts from former Libro subsidiary Lion.cc , in which WAZ invested with capital at the beginning of 2001, to mother Libro.

"Libro new"

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history

On December 5th, 2002 a new company, LIBRO Nuevo GmbH , was founded. From the bankruptcy estate of the insolvent Libro AG , a consortium around the industrialist Josef Taus bought out the "Libro old" in November 2002 and incorporated it into the newly founded company for operational business on January 1, 2003. As a result, there is no legal succession of “Libro neu” to the former Libro AG. On October 16, 2003, the founding name LIBRO Nuevo GmbH was renamed to the name of the operating company LIBRO Handelsgesellschaft mbH . The shareholders are MTH Handels-Holding GmbH at 60.3%, Belfort Beteiligungs GmbH at 27.0% and PMB Handels GmbH at 12.7%, which belongs to Management Trust Holding. On November 28, 2018, LIBRO Handelsgesellschaft mbH was renamed PL Handelsgesellschaft mbH.

Office supplies discount Pagro

In 1967 Walter Babel founded a wholesaler and retailer with office, paper and school supplies as an unregistered sole proprietorship, with a focus on small and very small businesses ('Small Office' and 'Home Office'). On April 1, 1975, Babel registered the company as "paper center" Walter Babel in the commercial register. On June 27, 1995, he founded an identical GmbH, into which he brought the sole proprietorship and dissolved the latter. On July 7, 2004, the "Libro-neu" majority shareholder MTH Handels-Holding GmbH took over 51% of the shares in Walter Babels Gesellschaft by way of a capital increase. Babel left the company entirely on June 25, 2005, and MTH has held 99.95% of the company since then . On August 26, 2005 the name was changed to the current PAGRO Handelsgesellschaft mbH . Around 153 pick-up markets are operated throughout Austria under the name PAGRO , with imports from the Far East and Germany.

Libro Management GmbH

The former Landesverlag GesmbH, founded in January 1992, with which the Amadeus branches were taken over in June 1998 (see above), is still held by "Libro neu" as a subsidiary LIBRO Management GmbH for the purpose of a management company.

Own brands

  • Office and school products are offered under the LIBRO own brand.
  • Librolino School supplies are offered here for children and young people.
  • Libroline LIBRO offered stationery for the office and school under this name.

Other companies in the MTH Retail Group

Web links

Commons : Libro (retail chain)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Unless specified with individual references, as sources:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c LIBRO Handelsgesellschaft mbH. Entry in firmenabc.at. Retrieved August 26, 2010.
  2. ↑ LIBRO - Press Factsheet. Retrieved October 18, 2019 .
  3. ^ "The trading group Rewe AG, Cologne, is now also taking over the discount chain Librodisk Buch- und SchallplattenhandelsgesmbH (Libro), Wiener Neustadt, through its Austrian subsidiary BML (Billa Merkur Litega) Vermögensverwaltungs AG. (Source: Süddeutsche Zeitung 1996). “Quoted by Mydict.com: Word BML. Retrieved August 26, 2010.
  4. ↑ Entry on Landesverlag Holding Ges. Mb H in the Austria Forum  (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
  5. ↑ a b LIBRO Management GmbH . Entry in firmenabc.at. Retrieved August 26, 2010.
  6. ↑ Entry on Libro AG in the Austria Forum  (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
  7. ↑ LIBRO AG: Rettberg with new team - Steinbauer new CFO. APA-OTS , press release, April 17, 2001. Retrieved August 26, 2010.
  8. ↑ Libro bankruptcy after more than 14 years prior to graduation. Der Standard, July 29, 2016, accessed July 29, 2016 .
  9. ↑ Libro goes to the Taus-Konsortium , accessed on January 11, 2015
  10. ^ Libro process: Libro bankruptcy was a millionaire grave for Telekom Austria. In: derStandard.at / APA , January 13, 2011. Accessed February 8, 2011.
  11. ^ MTH Retail Group , accessed June 10, 2012.
  12. ^ PL Handelsgesellschaft mbH, Guntramsdorf, Lower Austria. Retrieved October 18, 2019 .
  13. ↑ PAGRO Handelsgesellschaft mbH. Entry in firmenabc.at. Retrieved August 26, 2010.