02 January 2006

Hettich Group back in family ownership

With effect 1 January 2006, Dr. Andreas Hettich and Rainer Hettich will, with the help of their father Anton Hettich, be acquiring the 27 per cent stake held in the Kirchlengern-based Hettich Group since the end of 2000 by Lago Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbh & Co. KG.
Once the shares have been bought back, the company will be wholly family-owned again. After the buy-back, 82 per cent of shares in the company will be spread among Anton Hettich and his sons Dr. Andreas and Rainer Hettich. The remaining 18 per cent will be held by Dr. Erwin Hettich and Bruno Hettich with their respective families.
With origins going back to 1888 and founded in 1930 as an independent company in Herford, the Hettich Group parted from no fewer than ten family shareholders in 1987. This was when Hamburg's Jahr Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG was admitted as shareholder to finance the separation.
At the end of 1998, the Jahr holding company freed itself from its commitment and transferred part of its shares to the Hettich family, with the end of 2000 seeing the remainder go to Lago Beteiligungs¬gesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, a company belonging to Bielefeld bankers Bankhaus Lampe and Cologne's Gothaer Versicherung insurance company.

"In future, where it says Hettich on it, there'll once again be 100 per cent Hettich in it“, was how Anton Hettich announced the buy-back of company shares to staff on 10 Decem¬ber 2005 during the company's 75th anniversary celebrations. At the same time, he stressed that this family commitment was linked with a clear declaration of loyalty to Germany as a production base as well as to the outstanding skills and capabilities of the company's staff. Word for word: "We, as shareholders, look to the future with optimism despite harsh market conditions!" The Hettich Group is one of the world's leading manufacturers of furniture hardware. Total turnover for the Hettich Group will exceed 600 million euros in the 2005 business year, with sales abroad accounting for a share of 59 per cent. World-wide, the group employs over 5,000 members of staff (of whom over 3,000 work in Germany). The Hettich Group is strongly committed to in-company training and currently has over 130 apprentices. Managing directors of the Kirchlengern-based Hettich Group are Ingo Schubert, Dr. Dieter Wirths, Bernd Riechers and Dr. Andreas Hettich. Anton Hettich chairs the advisory board.