“Based on our latest assessment, no further insolvency applications will follow for the time being,” Böhm stated in a press conference. This also ensures that operations, in particular of the Romanian and Swedish subsidiaries, will continue for the foreseeable future. According to the insolvency administrator, insolvency applications are currently not planned in either country.
With regard to potential buyers, Böhm said that a sale of the whole group or parts of it is conceivable. He sees interest from both German and foreign companies. In addition to financial investors, those include companies which see Ziegler’s individual subsidiaries as sensible and strategic additions to their own businesses. “The bidding process is structured in such a way that foreign buyers may also participate,” Böhm stated. First of all, though, the main focus is on demerging the group in order to identify which companies can be sold individually and where it makes sense to sell more of them in “packages”. The sawmill in Plößberg including the adjacent pellet mill was mentioned as an example for the latter. In the case of the Naturheld insulation fiberboard plant, on the other hand, an individual sale is also conceivable, according to Böhm. Part of his work currently consists of separating the individual companies from one another and making them able to survive on their own. In any case, Ziegler’s network of companies is “unusual and not something you see every day”, even though some business areas do “follow an understandable industrial logic”.
In the case of the sawmills in Romania and Sweden, a sale of Ziegler Holding and Ziegler Holzindustrie shares as part of an asset deal is an option. According to Böhm, the operational ties with the insolvent German companies have been “successfully cut” so that there is currently no negative impact on local business.
According to the insolvency administrator, a process letter will be sent out and potential investors will be contacted starting next week in order to offer the due diligence phase. “We want to submit the first indicative offers in January in order to move on to further discussions and detailed negotiations as quickly as possible,” Böhm said.
The goal is to have some clarity on the continuation of business operations of almost all insolvent companies or to find an investor solution in the first quarter of 2025. The first solutions and concepts also need to be on the table by the end of January, as the insolvency benefit, which covers employees’ salaries, will expire then. However, potential layoffs in individual companies are not in the cards.
Böhm remained cautious about any predictions regarding a restart of sawmill operations in Plößberg. “The way the sawmill is structured it is only profitable when operated at full capacity,” he explains. Thus, the sawmill has huge demand for log wood and consequently requires substantial working capital.
