Schmolz + Bickenbach
| Schmolz + Bickenbach AG
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | Corporation |
| ISIN | CH0005795668 |
| founding | 1996 |
| Seat | Lucerne , Switzerland |
| management | Clemens Iller ( CEO ) Matthias Wellhausen ( CFO ) Jens Alder ( Chairman of the Board ) |
| Number of employees | > 10,000 (2018) |
| sales | 2,980.8 million euros (2019) |
| Branch | steel |
| Website | www.schmolz-bickenbach.com |
The Schmolz + Bickenbach AG (until 2006 Swiss Steel ) is a publicly traded steel company based in Lucerne / Switzerland . The group of companies employs more than 10,000 people and generated sales of 3,312.7 million euros in 2018.
Company history
Schmolz + Bickenbach was founded in 1919 by Arthur Schmolz and Oswald Bickenbach in Düsseldorf as a steel trading company and has operated under the double name since 1937.
In 2003 the family-run Schmolz + Bickenbach Group, which had previously been active in steel processing and steel trading, took over the majority of shares in the listed steel producer Swiss Steel AG under the leadership of Michael Storm . Swiss Steel was founded in 1996 with headquarters in Emmenbrücke . It was created as a holding company after the merger of the former competitors Von Moos Stahl and Von Roll Stahl , two Swiss steel producers. It initially united Von Moos Stahl AG , Steeltec AG , the logistics company Panlog AG based in Emmenbrücke and Stahl Gerlafingen AG based in Gerlafingen , which had emerged from Von Roll Stahl .
In the following two years, the German steel producers Edelstahlwerke Südwestfalen (2004) and Edelstahl Witten-Krefeld (2005), which have been merged as Deutsche Edelstahlwerke since 2007, were taken over . In 2006, 65 percent of the shares in Stahl Gerlafingen AG were sold on the grounds that they would like to concentrate more on the production of higher-quality steels in the long product segment. In 2006, the French Ugitech group based in Ugine was taken over.
In 2006, most of the operational parts of the parent company Schmolz + Bickenbach KG were incorporated into Swiss Steel AG and the latter was renamed Schmolz + Bickenbach AG (in 2007 the Swiss subsidiary Von Moos Stahl was again renamed Swiss Steel ). At the beginning of February 2007, the American A. Finkl & Sons Group , based in Chicago, was also acquired . With this step, the Schmolz + Bickenbach Group became the world's largest producer of tool steel. The group is also a world leader in the production of stainless long products.
As part of a capital increase, Schmolz + Bickenbach KG's share in the AG fell from 70% to just under 40% in 2010. On December 23, 2011, Michael Storm resigned as Chairman of the Board of Directors after it was revealed that Storm had embezzled around 1.5 million euros (around 1.83 million Swiss francs). In 2013, the company sued Michael Storm for repayment of 9 million euros plus 1.4 million euros in interest. At the same time, high financial liabilities, which had accumulated to almost EUR 903 million in connection with the company acquisitions and a difficult steel economy (in Dec 2012), resulted in a tense financial situation, which in spring 2013 after a consolidated loss of EUR 157.9 million. for the 2012 financial year led to the announcement of a possible capital increase. Benedikt Niemeyer (CEO) and Axel Euchner (CFO) left the company in June 2012 due to dissonance. The family shareholders united in Schmolz + Bickenbach KG around Michael Storm, who held almost 40% of the shares in spring 2013, initially rejected a capital increase that would have diluted the shares. They allied themselves with the Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg and sold to his company Renova, or their daughter Venetos, a share of 25.3%; this triggered a mandatory offer to the other shareholders in August 2013 , the price of which, however, was below the stock exchange price and therefore only achieved a very low acceptance rate. Nevertheless, the company reached an agreement with the new major shareholder. An Extraordinary General Meeting in September 2013 approved a capital increase to EUR 430 million, in which Venetos and the KG participated in proportion to their shares, and new members were appointed to the Board of Directors.
In summer 2015 the group parted with some of its sales companies in Germany, Austria and Benelux. In October Schmolz + Bickenbach moved the group headquarters from the previous headquarters in Düsseldorf to the new headquarters in Lucerne.
In February 2018 Schmolz + Bickenbach took over the French steel manufacturer Ascometal.
A capital increase was announced in October 2019.
Shareholders
Schmolz + Bickenbach is on the Swiss Exchange SIX Swiss Exchange listed . Martin Haefner's BigPoint Holding AG holds the largest share of the shares with 49.6%. Another major shareholder is Liwet Holding AG with 25%. The remaining 25.4% of the shares are in free float. Schmolz + Bickenbach Beteiligungs GmbH, in which the former founding families have bundled their interests, no longer holds any shares in the company.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Schmolz + Bickenbach - 5 year overview Schmolz + Bickenbach Online, accessed on September 12, 2017.
- ↑ Entry of “Schmolz + Bickenbach AG” in the commercial register of the Canton of Lucerne ( 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.
- ↑ a b SCHMOLZ + BICKENBACH, Annual Report 2018. (PDF) Retrieved on May 1, 2019 (German).
- ↑ Michael Storm was the sole personally liable partner of Schmolz + Bickenbach KG, which acted as the group's parent company, until the end of 2010
- ↑ Resignation of the Chairman of the Board of Directors. ( Memento of the original from April 7, 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. (PDF; 25 kB) Press release of December 23, 2011.
- ↑ 1.5 million euros embezzled: Schmolz + Bickenbach President resigns. In: Swiss television . December 23, 2011.
- ↑ Andreas Flütsch: How Schmolz + Bickenbach spent millions on hunting grounds. In: Tages-Anzeiger . May 15, 2013.
- ↑ SCHMOLZ + BICKENBACH AG Annual Report 2012. Accessed on May 1, 2019 .
- ↑ Viktor Vekselberg takes over reins at Schmolz + Bickenbach. In: NZZ. September 27, 2013, accessed April 2, 2014 .
- ↑ Schmolz + Bickenbach Annual Report 2015. In: Schmolz + Bickenbach Online, p. 30. Accessed on September 12, 2017 .
- ↑ https://www.finanzen.ch/nachrichten/aktien/s+b-leidet-unter-abschwung-und-brauch-kapital-prognose-erneut-tiefer-1028622184
- ↑ Schmolz + Bickenbach website shareholder structure. In: Schmolz + Bickenbach Online. Retrieved June 8, 2020 .
