Willi Balz

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Willi Balz (born July 14, 1960 ) is a German entrepreneur who is best known as the founder and managing director of the Windreich company .

In addition, he occasionally appears in public through his hobbies, as a glider pilot and sailor , as a driver and collector of vintage vehicles and as a promoter of e-mobility .

Live and act

Youth and education

Willi Balz was born in 1960 and grew up as the eldest son with two siblings on his parents' farm in Wolfschlugen near Stuttgart.

After school he completed an apprenticeship as an electronics technician , which he completed as a regional winner at the IHK . He then studied industrial engineering from 1982 to 1986 at the Technical College in Esslingen am Neckar .

Entrepreneurship

Balz started his own business in 1981, parallel to his studies. He was active in the development , financing and implementation of various construction projects of increasing size, most recently mainly supermarkets and shopping centers, for which he founded several companies ( Financial Consulting , FC Immobilien , ...).

In 1982 the hobby glider pilot (see below) came into contact with large wind turbines for the first time as part of an internship at the aircraft construction company Schempp-Hirth , as he was involved in the construction of the wings for the Growian test facility .

From 1989 Balz combined his personal interest in wind power with his entrepreneurial activity. In the following years Balz founded several companies to develop wind energy projects, including 1999, the FC wind power , from 2010, the Windreich AG emerged, and in 2000, together with the Putzmeister AG , the NATENCO ( Natural Energy Corporation ).

In 2003, Balz took over all shares in NATENCO from Putzmeister. In 2006 he sold the company to the French wind farm operator Theolia . In return, Balz acquired shares in Theolia . Balz has also been on the listed company's supervisory board since 2008.

In 2007, Balz joined the wind turbine manufacturer Fuhrländer as the second largest shareholder , and since 2008 he has also been a member of the supervisory board there.

In the years 2009-2010 Balz reorganized his companies. He bundled the activities in the field of wind energy in Windreich AG , which he leads as sole shareholder and CEO. With the former Baden-Württemberg Minister of Economics Walter Döring , the TV presenter Sabine Christiansen , Karl-Gerhard Eick , Hans-Jörg Bullinger , Eberhard Veit , Balz won prominent persons for the management board and the supervisory board, who each left after some time.

A planned IPO of Windreich AG was canceled in 2012. At the end of 2012, Windreich AG came under pressure due to increasing difficulties in raising capital. Balz admitted "liquidity problems". In March 2013 it became known that the Stuttgart Public Prosecutor was investigating Balz and other Windreich managers on suspicion of balance sheet manipulation , capital investment fraud , market price manipulation and credit fraud . After Windreich AG had to file for bankruptcy in September 2013 , Balz withdrew from the company's management.

In January 2017, charges against him and other people followed, including a. Walter Döring for delaying bankruptcy, aiding and abetting, and for fraud. The charges were admitted on all counts and the trial began in the second half of 2019.

Sports and hobbies

In addition to his entrepreneurial activity, Balz also appears again and again through his hobbies.

Gliding

At the age of 20, Balz acquired a pilot's license for gliders . Soon afterwards he began to operate the aviation sport competitively and achieved some successes: It began in 1983 with a second place in the German championship in cross-country flying in the two-seater class. Since then, Balz has won the German Cross Country Championship (DMSt) three times , the Klippeneck competition seven times and the Hahnweide competition eight times . He was also successful several times in the Italian championship.

Balz also maintains a glider with additional electric drive of the Arcus E type , which was developed with his collaboration. The batteries can be charged via a mobile station, which in turn is fed by a small wind turbine. Balz advertises with the statement that the Windreich Arcus E is “the first completely CO 2 -free motor glider” . The innovative concept was recognized, among other things, in the 365 Landmarks in the Land of Ideas competition. Well-known personalities such as Bertrand Piccard , Reinhold Messner or Richard Branson completed test flights with Balz as a pilot in the two-seater.

Historic cars and motorcycles

Balz collects historic sports and racing cars as well as motorcycles. He owns numerous vehicles and also competes with some of them himself as a driver in classic car races such as the AvD-Oldtimer-Grand-Prix . In 2010, for example, he and Frank Stippler won a race at the Le Mans Classic in a Maserati Tipo 61 .

He had a Jaguar E-Type and a historic Porsche converted into an electric car . The batteries for the electric drive are charged with a mobile small wind turbine - similar to the Arcus-E glider mentioned above . The vehicles are presented under the name Windreich and with the Windreich logo at trade fairs and information events (see picture below) and compete in rallies and races for vintage and electric cars such as the Silvretta E-Car Rallye Montafon .

sailing

His FC Financial Consulting GmbH maintains its own sailing yacht, the Finsco . The Finsco is a 19-meter-long sloop that was built from mahogany wood by the yacht yard Martin in Radolfzell on Lake Constance based on a historical model. With the Finsco , Balz also takes part in regattas as a skipper . So he took several top places in the Les Voiles de Saint Tropez race .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Commercial register entry FC Windkraft GmbH
  2. ↑ a b c d e management & top management. Windreich AG, archived from the original on May 31, 2013 ; Retrieved May 28, 2013 .
  3. ↑ a b Tina Kaiser: "Panic is fatal" . Interview with Willi Balz. In: Welt am Sonntag . December 5, 2010 ( full text in WELT's online archive ).
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g E-type with double-E . In: Pitwalk . No. 3/2011 , p. 172–177 ( online as PDF ).
  5. ↑ About the person: Willi Balz . In: The world . June 18, 2012 ( full text in WELT's online archive ).
  6. ↑ Mario Brück: Windreich boss Willi Balz: Resourceful Schwabe shows energy giants how it's done . In: Wirtschaftswoche . November 22, 2012 ( full text in Wirtschaftswoche's online archive ).
  7. ^ A b Mario Brück: Windreich AG: The windmaker from the province. Gigantic wind farms are growing on the German coast. Every second turbine is born in the Swabian province - by Windreich AG and its busy boss Willi Balz. A portrait. In: WirtschaftsWoche . March 5, 2011 ( full text in the online archive of the Handelsblatt ).
  8. ↑ a b history. Windreich AG, archived from the original on June 1, 2013 ; Retrieved May 28, 2013 .
  9. ↑ Theolia buys Natenco: French wind power provider buys German competitors . In: Handelsblatt . October 17, 2006 ( full text in the online archive of the Handelsblatt ).
  10. ^ Windreich AG: For Willi Balz on stage. Handelsblatt, March 6, 2013, accessed on May 28, 2013 .
  11. ↑ SME bonds : Will Windreich be the seventh payment default? In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . March 4, 2013 ( full text in the FAZ's online archive ).
  12. ↑ Suspected balance sheet manipulation: raid on wind farm developer Windreich. Spiegel Online, March 6, 2013, accessed May 28, 2013 .
  13. ^ Application for bankruptcy: Windreich founder Balz resigns as head of the company. Stuttgarter Zeitung, September 9, 2013, accessed on September 9, 2013 .
  14. ^ Public prosecutor's office brings charges. In: Stuttgarter Nachrichten online, January 20, 2017.
  15. ↑ The Windreich bankruptcy process should start this year. In: Stuttgarter Zeitung online, February 21, 2019.
  16. ↑ One year of OLC magazine: Willi Balz and Windreich made it possible. Press release. Windreich e-mobil GmbH, December 8, 2011, archived from the original on November 3, 2013 ; Retrieved May 28, 2013 .
  17. ^ Arcus E. Windreich e-mobil GmbH, archived from the original on May 24, 2013 ; Retrieved May 28, 2013 .
  18. ↑ Windreich AG: Windreich Arcus E honored by Prime Minister Kretschmann - performance through passion. according to a press release from Windreich AG. DGAP.de, July 15, 2011, accessed on May 28, 2013 .
  19. ↑ a b Windreich AG: 'Wind is the energy for tomorrow's mobility' - Windreich AG presents the first e-mobility calendar. dgap.de, December 5, 2011, accessed on July 28, 2019 .
  20. ↑ a b Open bird cage. LG 14 Württemberg Hohenzollern at the racing car collector Willi Balz. General Schnauferl Club (ASC) - Landesgruppe Württemberg-Hohenzollern eV, accessed on May 28, 2013 .
  21. ↑ Le Mans Classic 2010: Plateau 3 Race 3 and Overall Results. 24 Heures du Mans, July 11, 2010, accessed May 28, 2013 .
  22. ↑ a b Windreich E based on the Jaguar E starts at Silvretta E. auto.de, July 19, 2011, accessed on May 28, 2013 .
  23. ↑ Welcome to the new age of wind energy. (PDF; 3.7 MB) Letter from Willi Balz to the participants of the Regatta Voiles de St. Tropez (English). August 2012, archived from the original on February 3, 2014 ; Retrieved May 28, 2013 .
personal data
SURNAME Courtship, Willi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH July 14, 1960