To financial investor

Voest now sells a German subsidiary

Voest CEO Eibensteiner found a buyer.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/voestalpine, Markus Wenzel)

The deal that has been in the pipeline for some time has now been finalized - the Linz-based steel group voestalpine is selling its struggling German subsidiary Buderus Edelstahl. The buyer is the Munich-based financial investor Mutares, which specializes in restructuring cases. 

The purchase agreement was reportedly signed on Tuesday. With the sale of Buderus Edelstahl, the High Performance Metals Division is concentrating its product portfolio on the "technologically demanding segment of high-performance materials" and reducing the production share in tool steel and engineering steel in the performance-standardized area. This is coming under increasing price pressure due to growing competition from non-European competitors.

Ebensteiner satisfied
"In Mutares, we have found a renowned investment company for Buderus Edelstahl that has extensive experience with companies in situations of upheaval," says voestalpine CEO Herbert Eibensteiner.

After years of restructuring, the German subsidiary is now facing further staff cuts. "In line with the current situation at Buderus Edelstahl, we will negotiate a corresponding social plan with the employee representatives in the event of a possible reduction in the workforce for the affected employees," announced Mutares CIO Johannes Laumann via a press release. The production processes are to be "optimized" and the cost structure further "streamlined".

Employees to remain
"We assume that the vast majority of employees will have a long-term professional future at this site despite the current economic situation," said voestalpine Management Board member and Head of the High Performance Metals Division Reinhard Nöbauer.

Buderus Edelstahl currently employs 1130 people (full-time equivalents). In the business year 2023/24, the almost three-hundred-year-old traditional company based in Wetzlar, Hesse, generated revenue of EUR 362 million. Buderus can produce up to 300,000 tons of crude steel per year.

Acquired by Voest in 2007
The company has belonged to Voest since 2007. Prior to that (2003), Buderus had been taken over by Stuttgart-based automotive supplier Bosch. Bosch then sold the special steel division to the Austrian special steel group Böhler-Uddeholm, which is part of voestalpine.

Last week, voestalpine issued a profit warning for the current business year 2024/25 (as at the end of March). Accordingly, the management expects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of only EUR 1.4 billion and thus a decline in profits compared to the previous year. In August, earnings of around 1.7 billion euros were still expected - on a par with the previous year. EBITDA had already fallen noticeably from EUR 2.5 billion to EUR 1.7 billion in the previous financial year 2023/24. The economic crisis in Germany is causing problems for the Group. voestalpine supplies the automotive industry there.