500 Employees Are Worried

Auto parts supplier Pollmann is insolvent

The Waldviertel-based family-owned company Pollmann has a long tradition. Now it is insolvent.(Bild: Pollmann)

Rumors had been circulating for two weeks; now it’s a sad reality. The large family-owned Pollmann Group, headquartered in Karlstein an der Thaya (Lower Austria), is insolvent. Three companies—including the umbrella brand Pollmann International—have filed for restructuring proceedings. Now the court will decide.

The traditional family-owned company from the Waldviertel region employs 1,200 workers across five locations on three continents; as recently as the 1990s, it was said that one in every three sunroofs in a car in Europe came from Pollmann. And on its website, the company still boasts that 93 percent of all major car brands have installed Pollmann parts.

The Waldviertel’s Flagship Company
At its Karlstein headquarters in the district of Waidhofen an der Thaya alone, the Pollmann conglomerate is estimated to employ about half of its total workforce. According to the company, approximately 500 employees across the three subsidiaries are affected. The combined debt of the three subsidiaries is reported to be 74 million euros. “Due to the large number of employees affected, the works council and the Chamber of Labor were closely involved in the process,” the statement said. Pollmann emphasized in a press release that the foreign subsidiaries in the Czech Republic, Mexico, and China are not affected by the Austrian proceedings, nor is Maxxom Automation GmbH.

The current poor state of the automotive industry in Europe and strategic missteps—such as the construction of a new plant in Vitis, which had to be shut down again shortly thereafter—are likely to have been decisive factors in the insolvency. For decades, the group had been considered one of the Waldviertel region’s leading companies, particularly in the automation technology sector. 

Judge Rules
Three companies within the Pollmann Group filed for restructuring proceedings a few minutes ago, the Krems Regional Court confirmed in response to an inquiry from the “Krone”: Pollmann International GmbH, Pollmann Austria GmbH, and Pollmann Werkzeuge GmbH. The presiding judge will decide in the coming days whether to grant the requested restructuring proceedings without self-administration.

Rumors—which had claimed the group was in debt to the tune of tens of millions of euros and have now been confirmed—were recently fueled by the fact that the group’s CFO had his last day of work yesterday. Pollmann points out that the company’s restructuring has been underway for some time. “A change in top management, the consolidation and relocation to a single site in Karlstein, the sale of non-operational real estate, and, in parallel, a structured investor process” were highlighted. “For a company of this size, change and restructuring on this scale are difficult to implement on its own, which is why the initiation of restructuring proceedings was unavoidable.”

The reason for the need for restructuring is the “structural transformation of the automotive industry,” a “long-term shift that is currently affecting many European suppliers,” Pollmann added. Automotive production continues to grow worldwide, while pressure is mounting in the European market. The companies are now being advised by insolvency law expert Andrea Fruhstorfer.