Further to the Glassonline World News story of 24 April, Germany“s Th. Goldschmidt AG of Essen recently announced details of the acquisition of an equity stake in the company by the industrial group …
Further to the Glassonline World News story of 24 April, Germany“s Th. Goldschmidt AG of Essen recently announced details of the acquisition of an equity stake in the company by the industrial group Viag AG. The agreement reached in April has now been submitted to the appropriate authorities for approval. Under the deal, Viag acquires a majority stake by buying the holdings in Goldschmidt of two other German companies, Rtgerswerke AG and Allianz Versicherungs AG. This gives Viag 56.24% of Goldschmidt capital and 50.34% of voting rights. The Goldschmidt family holds around 33% of share capital and 40% of voting rights. Viag, based in Munich, started taking an interest in Goldschmidt in 1992 and the agreement now reached ends a long period of speculation and is expected to stabilise the Goldschmidt group. Goldschmidt thus becomes part of a diversified group active in the energy, packaging (the group includes Gerresheimer Glas), chemicals, logistics and telecommunications sectors with a total workforce of about 84,000 and a 1995 turnover of approximately DM 42 billion. Viag“s intention is to expand its operations in the chemicals sector and enhance its competitiveness and innovation capabilities, but has pointed out that it also intends to encourage independent growth for Goldschmidt, whose name is already well-known internationally.