Hüls Group avyttrar Loddenkemper and femira till Wiemann

The Livingstone consumer sector team advised Hüls AG & Co KG, Stadtlohn, (“Hüls Group”) on the sale of its living and bed room furniture producer Loddenkemper GmbH & Co. KG, Oelde, and mattress and bed manufacturer femira Schlafsysteme GmbH (“femira”), Herzebrock-Clarholz, with their associated production companies to Wiemann family (Oeseder Möbel-Industrie Mathias Wiemann GmbH & Co. KG of Georgsmarienhütte). The parties have agreed not to disclose any details of the transaction.

Loddenkemper, founded in 1889, manufactures upmarket bedroom and living room ranges with lacquered and veneered surfaces. Hüls Group acquired Loddenkemper in 1993. Femira was founded over 200 years ago by Gussmann family and was acquired by Hüls Group from insolvency proceedings in 2004. Since then it has evolved into a supplier to the upper segment, manufacturing for example for the premium brand Musterring. The transaction was undertaken as part of the Hüls Group’s concentration on its HÜLSTA brand.

The idea was to place both businesses in the hands of a buyer able to make optimum use of the operational repositioning, which has been achieved by SMP Struktur Management Partner in Cologne with its partner Felix Schwabedal, and to continue the ongoing growth with the confidence of the furniture retail chains. Livingstone succeeded in implementing a promising solution for the company and its employees ahead of MOW – thelocal key trade fair for the furniture industry in mid-September.

Wiemann is a German manufacturer of semi-solid, laminated furniture (bedroom suites and free-standing items) and was founded in 1900 by master carpenter Mathias Wiemann. The family-owned company is now managed by the fourth generation and is one of the market leaders in this segment in Germany. The Wiemann family decided to expand and complement its product range, and has acquired Loddenkemper and femira as part of this business strategy.

“The fact that we are able to announce the takeover of Loddenkemper and femira by WIEMANN ahead of MOW is a superb way to start the 2018/2019 furniture year, and is fantastic news for the retailers, our employees and our customers. I am already very excited about working with the Wiemann family, and with Mr. Kriege as Managing Director,” said Jürgen Merkelbach, Managing Director of Loddenkemper and femira.

“As an established manufacturer of bedroom furniture, this was a very special opportunity for us to buy a producer of premium-priced box furniture and beds/mattresses – a company whose historical roots are as firmly embedded in homegrown German quality as are our own,” commented Markus Wiemann.

“With WIEMANN as a strategic partner, with the expertise of our employees and the highly motivated team at Loddenkemper and femira, we are going to continue to develop the well-known brand of this long-standing company, highly valued by its customers, and position it going forward as a trustworthy, capable partner to the trade and to our customers,” added Helmut Kriege, Managing Director of Oeseder Möbel-Industrie Mathias Wiemann GmbH & Co. KG.

“We are absolutely sure that WIEMANN is the right buyer for both companies,” said Paul Jähn, CEO of Hüls AG & Co. KG, summarizing the deal.

“We are delighted that the shareholders and management of Hüls AG & Co KG placed their trust in us to assist them in advising them with the strategic positioning of the Hüls Group. The search for a suitable long-term partner with experience of the industry, and who appreciates and is able to use the potential and the tractive power of the brands, was a really exciting process, and WIEMANN proved to be the ideal answer. It was a great pleasure for us to be able to advise these established companies on the sale, together with the management and the SMP team, and we would like to thank the company and its shareholders for their excellent teamwork,” said Dr. André Schröer, Livingstone Partner in Düsseldorf.

The seller’s legal advisor was Gleiss Lutz in Munich, who fielded a team headed by Dr. Ralf Morshäuser and Dr. Tobias Falkner. The buyer was assisted by KPMG Legal Düsseldorf, led by Dr. Maximilian Gröning.

This successful transaction for Hülsta comes on top of numerous other transactions in the furniture industry, such as the sale of a majority stake in SieMatic to China’s Nison Group and the sale of premium furniture maker interlübke to SCHRAMM. This transaction is also a tribute to Livingstone’s expertise in the furniture segment (Posseik, interlübke, Dovetail, Burgbad, etc.).