Wachenheim Castle AG

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Wachenheim Castle AG

logo
legal form Corporation
ISIN DE0007229007
founding 1888
Seat Trier , GermanyGermanyGermany 
management
  • Oliver Gloden, CEO
  • Horst Hillesheim
  • Boris Schlimbach, CFO
Number of employees 1,418 (2018/2019)
sales 337 million euros (2018/2019)
Branch Food industry
Website www.schloss-wachenheim.com
As of June 30, 2019

Former company headquarters in Wachenheim Castle
former logo

The Wachenheim AG castle - formerly Sektkellerei Schloss Wachenheim AG - is an internationally of Operating Group and one of the largest producers of sparkling wine . In the 2016/2017 financial year, the group posted sales of EUR 296.1 million.

The German subsidiary is around 50th among the companies with the highest turnover in Rhineland-Palatinate .

Seat and locations

The company has its headquarters in Trier . There are production sites in Germany (Trier, Wachenheim, Morscheid and Wismar), France , Poland , Romania , the Czech Republic and Slovakia . Around two thirds of the group's sales are generated abroad. The company sells its products in more than 80 countries in Europe, North and South America, Africa, Asia and Australia.

Market position and brands

This article or section needs to be revised: A WP link to Börse Online is no proof that every tenth bottle of sparkling wine drunk in the world comes from the Schloss Wachenheim Group . In general, most of the evidence on this page is incomprehensible to the reader.
Please help to improve it , and then remove this flag.

The company sells around 220 million bottles of sparkling wine, sparkling wine and other products each year. This makes the group one of the leading manufacturers worldwide. The share of the world market is around 10%, so every tenth bottle of sparkling wine drunk in the world comes from the Schloss-Wachenheim Group. The company is the leading supplier of sparkling wine and sparkling wine in many European countries. In Germany, the Sektkellerei Schloss Wachenheim is number three behind Rotkäppchen-Mumm and Henkell & Co. with a share of around 15% of German sparkling wine production .

The Group's most important brands in Germany are:

  • Faber (Sekt; 2007 sale of the billionth bottle, in March 2010 presentation of the new Faber wines)
  • Wachenheim Castle (sparkling wine)
  • Robby Bubble (non-alcoholic children's party drink)
  • Feist or Feist Belmont (sparkling wine)
  • Nymphenburg (sparkling wine)
  • Schwerin Castle Garden (sparkling wine)
  • Böchingen Castle (sparkling wine)
  • Small phylloxera (wine-containing cocktail)
  • Light Live (sparkling drink made from non-alcoholic wine)

In 1988, Light Live was the first non-alcoholic “sparkling wine” to be launched on the market. The Sektkellerei Schloss Wachenheim was not only a pioneer, but is still the market leader today ; Over 7 million bottles of Light Live are consumed every year.

On July 1, 2017, Schloss Wachenheim AG took over the majority of shares in Rindchen's Weinkontor, one of Germany's leading wine dealers. In 2019, the specialist wine shops of Pieroth Wein AG (formerly Vino ), which last operated under the name of Pieroth Retail , were also taken over.

Schloss Wachenheim AG is the market leader in the sparkling wine market in France, Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In France Charles Volner, Muscador and Opéra are the most important brands, in East Central Europe Cin & Cin, Dorato, Michelangelo, Soare and Zarea.

Company history

Start time

Today's company was founded in 1888, but the history of the sparkling wine castle in Wachenheim began as early as 1341. The knights of Steinhausser settled on the site of today's sparkling wine cellar and established a noble residence here. In 1725, Baron Johann Georg von Sussmann, court judge of the Elector in Mannheim , acquired the property including the surrounding vineyards and fields. On the foundations of the former aristocratic residence, he had a castle built in the rural baroque style and a farm wing, the so-called Sussmann'schen Hof. During the 19th century, the owner changed hands several times until the wine merchant Georg Böhm bought the property in the 1880s to build a sparkling wine factory.

After acquiring the patent for the production of sparkling wine in the barrel fermentation process from the Stuttgart wine chemist Friedrich Adolf Reihlen in 1886, Georg Böhm's heirs, the brothers Friedrich and Ludwig Böhm, founded the German sparkling wine factory in Wachenheim in 1888 together with Reihlen and a Stuttgart banking group . Registered in 1892 as “Deutsche Schaumweinfabrik AG, Wachenheim”, the company initially traded as “Sektkellerei Wachenheim AG” (1913) before the current name “Sektkellerei Schloss Wachenheim AG” was finally used. This makes the Sekthaus one of the oldest stock corporations in Germany.

Carl Josef Wagner established the bottle fermentation method in Wachenheim in 1899 as operations manager. He later became the majority owner of the winery and redesigned it according to his ideas between 1924 and 1939.

Between 1952 and 1958, the winery's sales almost quadrupled. As a result, extensive capacity expansions were made in 1962. Storage cellars, packing and dispatch rooms as well as material stores were built. In the 1960s, two board members died in quick succession: On April 29, 1962, board member Wilhelm Meinzer, who had managed the winery during the Second World War , passed away . Board member Hans Otto Wagner, who joined the company immediately after the war, died on January 31, 1965. Successors were Emil Wegner and Karl Josef Wagner.

Change of ownership in the post-war period

In the fall of 1963, the Carl Josef Wagner community of heirs sold a quarter of the share capital, but continued to hold 56% of the share capital. In 1968 the bank Merck Finck & Co announced that it owned 25% of the share capital. This bank had been involved in the Würzburger Sektkellerei J. Oppmann since the 1930s . In 1973 the deputy board member Karl Josef Wagner took over the share of the Carl Josef Wagner community of heirs. At the end of 1977 the spirits and fruit juice company Peter Eckes joined the company with over 25%.

Rapid growth in the 1980s

In 1985 and 1986 another major investment program worth 2.5 million DM was tackled. To this end, 4,000 new shares at a ratio of 9: 1 were issued for DM 300 per DM 50 share. In 1986, 6.6 million bottles of sparkling wine were sold and sales of 38.6 million DM were achieved. In 1983 sales were only DM 22.2 million with sales of 4 million bottles. In 1989 sales were already 63 million DM, in 1990 the rapid growth continued and 71.4 million DM were achieved.

1994 crisis

In 1991 a cooperation with the Alsatian cooperative winery in Eguisheim was announced. In 1994 it became known that the board member Bernd Lemke and the authorized signatory Werner Bauer had concluded sham deals with this company. He was investigated for inventory falsification and misappropriation of company funds. During a customs inspection, it was found that stocks of 1.4 million bottles of sparkling wine with a value of 7.3 million DM were too high. In total, the company was damaged by DM 16 million, so that it had to register a settlement on October 12, 1994. The subsidiaries Weingut Friedrich Wilhelm Freudenmacher GmbH and HNB Handelsgesellschaft mbH also had to register a settlement as a result. Peter Eckes, who took over the import of the Spanish sparkling wine brand Freixenet on January 1st, 1995 and held a 40% stake in Rotkäppchen Sektkellerei, did not want to increase his share of 37.5%. Instead, the Sektkellerei Deinhard & Co KGaA, the spirits manufacturer Berentzen , the Racke GmbH & Co and the Palatinate Vintners' Association entered the market.

Business was initially continued by Karl Josef Wagner and the new board member Willi Federspiel, without a new major shareholder being found. A settlement was approved in February 1995. For the 1993/94 financial year, however, a loss of around DM 71.5 million had to be reported. The two major shareholders Karl Josef Wagner and Peter Eckes AG have authorized the settlement administrator to sell their shares of 50.4% and 31.8% "from a single source". At the annual general meeting in April 1995, the alcoholic Karl Josef Wagner resigned from his position on the board. There it was also known that a total of 27.4 million DM had been embezzled. In the 1994/95 financial year a loss was reported again, amounting to approx. DM 10 million. As a result, negative equity had to be reported. In December 1995 it was announced that Nick Reh is aiming for an 80% stake in the share capital. In addition, he offered the major shareholders the symbolic price of DM 1 for their shares and promised to bring in DM 10 million in fresh capital. This offer was initially rejected by Karl Josef Wagner because it would not have been able to service his private debts. On January 31, 1996, Günther Reh AG withdrew their offer because they felt they had been betrayed by Deutsche Bank . With the help of Rainer Brüderle , a takeover of 76.83% of the shares could finally take place. At a general meeting on August 9, 1996, the share capital was increased from 2.2 million DM to 6.6 million DM against cash contributions. In addition, 88,000 new shares were issued at a price of DM 115. Thanks to the inflow of around DM 10 million, positive equity capital of DM 6.9 million could be reported again. The preservation of the sparkling wine cellar was assured.

Part of the deer group

The sparkling wine cellar was merged with the Reh subsidiary Sektkellerei Faber GmbH & Co. KG in Trier with retroactive effect from July 1, 1996 . For this purpose, the Faber sparkling wine producer was incorporated into Wachenheim AG and the share capital was increased by DM 26.4 million. In order to be able to keep the share of small shareholders at approx. 20%, an additional cash capital increase of 6.6 million DM shares at a ratio of 1: 5 for 200 DM per share was carried out. Founded in 1950, the Faber sparkling wine cellar first offered broad groups of consumers sparkling wine at affordable prices in the 1970s and achieved a turnover of 354 million DM in 1996. Under the management of Helmut Henseler, the world's largest sparkling wine cellar was created with sales of around 100 million bottles and one Sales of around DM 400 million. Wachenheim Castle then became the umbrella brand of the entire group, into which the previous brands were also incorporated. Because of the stagnating domestic sparkling wine consumption, the group of companies has been pushing expansion in East Central Europe, France and other growth markets since the early 1990s.

With effect from June 30, 1998, the Sektkellerei Schloß Wachenheim took over four investments from the Günther Reh AG group. These were Carstens-Haefelin Kellereien GmbH (100% stake) with sales of 30 million bottles and sales of 60 million DM, and the French Compagnie Européenne des Vins Mousseux SA (50%) with sales of 65 million Bottles and a turnover of 130 million DM, the stake in the Czech Soare AS (52%), Jabionec nad Nisou, with sales of 5 million bottles and a turnover of 12 million DM as well as the involvement in Ambra SA (29 %) with 55 million DM sales and 30 million bottle sales, which should be expanded to the majority in the medium term. At the end of 1998, Helmut Henseler resigned from the board, to which Nick Reh had moved in the course of the year.

In 2000 the Nymphenburg Sektkellerei became part of the group.

In 2005 the Polish subsidiary Ambra AG was listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange; the proceeds of around 40 million euros were to be used for further expansion in Eastern Europe.

In 2007 the sparkling wine cellar was awarded 1st place for the best company presentation on the Internet (Federal Prize, NEG Website Award). The prize is awarded by the Federal Ministry of Economics, Computerwoche and Handelsblatt.de.

In 2008, the company responded to the increasing global demand for alcohol-free wines and sparkling wines by setting up a modern vacuum distillation system at the Trier location.

At the 2014 Annual General Meeting, a resolution was passed to change the company name from Sektkellerei Schloss Wachenheim AG to Schloss Wachenheim AG ; the approval was 99.96% of the share capital present. The main reason is the change from a small "sparkling wine manufacturer" to a global group.

70.7% of the company shares are owned by Günther Reh AG, Leiwen, the rest is in free float .

Sektkellerei Nymphenburg

Sektkellerei Nymphenburg KG was founded in 1955 by Martin Kollar and Stefan Spernath in Munich . In 1981 the winery moved its headquarters to a new building, which cost 27 million DM, east of the city. For the first time in the company's history it was necessary to raise outside capital. The turnover at that time was about 70 million DM. At the end of 1996 the "Prosecco Blu" was introduced, which turned out to be a great success. In 1998 a turnover of 100 million DM could be achieved. In 1999 around eight million bottles of sparkling wine and nine million bottles of wine were sold, generating sales of DM 60 million. On April 1, 2000, 90% of the shares in the newly founded Sektkellerei Nymphenburg AG were taken over by the Sektkellerei Schloss Wachenheim. The remaining 10% remained with the previous shareholders Gabriel Spernath and Agnes Kollar until the AG was converted into a GmbH.

As part of the takeover, production was relocated to the Bingen, Trier and Wachenheim locations. For marketing reasons, however, the impression is still given that it is a Bavarian sparkling wine.

On January 26, 2004 the Sektkellerei Nymphenburg AG was converted into a GmbH. On October 17, 2005, the shares of the following companies were brought into the company: Bioveritas Land- und Weinprodukte GmbH, Trier, Carstens-Haefelin Kellereien GmbH, Trier, Castelu Wine Trading GmbH, Munich, Doctor-Weinstube GmbH Weingesellschaft, Bernkastel-Kues, favin Getränkekellerei GmbH, Böchingen / Palatinate, Feist Belmont'sche Sektkellerei limited liability company, Trier, Friedberg Kellerei GmbH, Böchingen / Palatinate, GA Loeffler jun. Sektkellerei GmbH, Trier, GF Chevalier & Co. GmbH, Böchingen / Pfalz, Gerhard Keller Weinvertriebs GmbH, Trier, HAECA-Markengetränke GmbH, Böchingen / Pfalz, Hanse Sektkellerei Wismar GmbH, Wismar, Jodocius & Co. GmbH, Trier, Julius Berger & Sohn GmbH, Trier, Schloss Wachenheim International GmbH, Wachenheim, Sektkellerei Faber GmbH, Trier and Sektkellerei Schloß Böchingen Limited Liability Company, Trier. Since then it has been a pure holding company without an operational function.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Annual Report 2018. (pdf) In: schloss-wachenheim.com. Retrieved October 8, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b Schloss Wachenheim AG: Annual Report 2016/2017. (PDF; 4.39 MB) Retrieved March 22, 2018 .
  3. ^ Rhineland-Palatinate Bank
  4. ↑ Sektkellerei increases the yield . In: Börse Online , August 19, 2010
  5. ↑ Percent free tingling . In: Saarbrücker Zeitung , December 21, 2009
  6. ↑ Pieroth becomes Vino again | News | Food practice. Retrieved December 3, 2019 .
  7. ↑ a b story. In: schloss-wachenheim.de
  8. ↑ No capital increase for the time being. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , May 1, 1959
  9. ↑ Property tax fully passivated. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , May 13, 1964
  10. ↑ Family ads . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , May 4, 1962
  11. ↑ Family ads . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , February 2, 1965
  12. ^ Shares in Sekt Wachenheim change hands. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , September 26, 1963
  13. ↑ Involved in Wachenheim. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , July 4, 1968
  14. ↑ Supervisory board remuneration reduced. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , June 30, 1973
  15. ↑ Brief messages. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , April 14, 1978
  16. ↑ Eckes hopes for normalization. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , June 2, 1978
  17. ↑ Bottle fermentation and modern technology. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , May 20, 1985
  18. ↑ New dividends. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , May 2, 1985
  19. ↑ Wachenheim with good growth. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , May 19, 1987
  20. ↑ Wachenheim Castle with increased sales. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , May 27, 1984
  21. ↑ Company news . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , July 5, 1990
  22. ↑ Wachenheim Castle with 13% growth. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , May 31, 1991
  23. ^ Wachenheim cooperates with "Wolfberger". In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , October 15, 1991
  24. ↑ Are the annual accounts of Sekt Wachenheim void? In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , October 14, 1994
  25. ^ Wachenheim: Further settlement requests. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , November 1, 1994
  26. ↑ Wachenheim board member Lemke arrested. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , October 13, 1994
  27. ↑ Consultations on the future of Schloss Wachenheim. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , October 15, 1994
  28. ↑ Interest in Wachenheim sparkling wine. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , October 19, 1994
  29. ↑ Sektkellerei wants to sue for damages. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , November 9, 1994
  30. ↑ Sekt Wachenheim tries without a new shareholder. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , December 16, 1994
  31. ↑ Company news . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , February 11, 1995
  32. ↑ High annual deficit as an incentive to buy. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , February 17, 1995
  33. ↑ Wachenheim is still looking for an investor. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , April 27, 1995
  34. ↑ No capital measures at Wachenheim. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , August 24, 1995
  35. ↑ Deer interested in Wachenheim. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , December 8, 1995
  36. ↑ Reh offers a DM for the majority of Wachenheim. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , January 8, 1996
  37. ^ Shareholders against deer offer. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , January 10, 1996
  38. ↑ Reh withdraws offer. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , February 2, 1996
  39. ↑ Brüderle wants further negotiations about the Wachenheim sparkling wine cellar. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , February 3, 1996
  40. ↑ Reh AG takes over Wachenheim Castle. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , May 14, 1996
  41. ↑ Capital increase at Sekt Wachenheim. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , June 22, 1996
  42. ↑ Company news . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , June 28, 1996
  43. ↑ Shareholders approve capital increase at Wachenheim Castle. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , August 10, 1996
  44. ↑ The sparkling wine cellars Schloß Wachenheim and Faber want to merge. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , January 14, 1997
  45. ↑ The world's largest sparkling wine cellar is born. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , February 28, 1997
  46. ↑ Faber takes over Wachenheim. In: Hamburger Abendblatt , May 14, 1996
  47. ↑ Wachenheim Castle is now the largest sparkling wine cellar in the world. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , June 27, 1997
  48. ^ "Small phylloxera" now at Sekt Wachenheim. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , February 2, 1998
  49. ↑ Personal details . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , June 6, 1998
  50. ↑ Personal details . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , September 1, 1998
  51. ↑ Nymphenburg Sekt - a million times over. (No longer available online.) In: nymphenburgsekt.de. Archived from the original on September 24, 2010 ; Retrieved October 2, 2011 . 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.nymphenburgsekt.de
  52. ↑ Ambra AG starts trading on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. In: General hotel and gastronomy newspaper . Matthaes Verlag GmbH, Stuttgart Germany, accessed on February 4, 2020 .
  53. ↑ Voting results of the ordinary general meeting on November 27, 2014. ( Memento of the original of February 19, 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. In: schloss-wachenheim.com , accessed on February 19, 2015 (PDF). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.schloss-wachenheim.com
  54. ↑ Change of name: "Schloss Wachenheim AG". In: Beverage Industry , issue 2/2015, p. 7
  55. ↑ With "Nymphenburg" and "Ludwig II." to the champagne shop. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , December 24, 1981
  56. ↑ Sektkellerei Nymphenburg with strong growth Prosecco Blu achieves 14% market share - great sales potential for wines from Eastern Europe. In: Lebensmittel Zeitung , October 2, 1998
  57. ↑ Wachenheim swallows the Nymphenburg sparkling wine cellar. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , January 15, 2000
  58. ↑ Publication in the register of the Munich District Court on December 7, 2005