The enterprise run by Gerhard Blaschitz and Friedrich Spitzer belongs to its 3,000- employee parent company operating under the same name in Heidenheim, Germany. Voith AG, also a specialist in paper manufacturing equipment and with 270 global operations and 37,000 employees one of the largest familyowned enterprises in Europe, will function as umbrella organisation. Both contracting parties have agreed to keep the purchase price secret. As a successful supplier of integrated small hydropower solutions, Kössler with its 74 employees achieved a € 17 million turnover in the recent financial year. A subsidiary for the supply of semi-fabricated products was founded in Trebisov, Slovakia, in early 2007. The export quota is 90 percent.
Through the Kössler takeover, Voith Siemens Hydro Power Generation expects to further strengthen its position in the worldwide growing small hydropower sector and derive some synergy from the vast experience of both companies. The enterprise also hopes to draw a benefit from Kössler’s traditionally strong customer orientation.
Josef Lampl, previously executive with power of attorney and now managing director, sees a major advantage of the deal in the opportunity to use the research facilities established by Voith, something a medium-sized enterprise like Kössler could only dream of. Lampl is mostly impressed by the hydraulic test bays and the huge computing capacity for CFD analysis at the Brunnenmühle research centre. Voith’s major contribution will be cutting-edge technologies and know-how.
The partners have agreed that Kössler Wasserkraftanlagen shall remain an independent subsidiary based in St. Georgen and keep its internal structures. It is a particular pleasure for Josef Lampl that Kössler’s senior expert Werner Panhauser has already offered his consulting services for the next three years to come. Former CEO Erich Kössler will leave the company as of 31st December to assume new tasks.
(Source: aqua press Int. 4/2007)
