Ziegler Group’s insolvency administrator sells wood processing firms to investor

Rettenmeier is taking over the business operations of Ziegler Holzindustrie GmbH & Co. KG, Ziegler Naturenergie GmbH, Ziegler Forstservice GmbH, and Holzzentrum Ziegler GmbH.

Rettenmeier is also acquiring the non-insolvent Ziegler companies Prechtl GmbH Anlagen- und Maschinenbau and Ruhland Druckluft & Systemtechnik GmbH.

In good hands

Rettenmeier wants to retain all locations and is taking over the majority of the employees.

At Ziegler Holzindustrie GmbH & Co. KG, 516 of the original 665 employees, at the new pellet production plant Ziegler Naturenergie GmbH all 54 employees, at Ziegler Forstservice GmbH all 18 employees and at Holzzentrum Ziegler GmbH 46 of 97 employees will be retained.

At the non-insolvent companies “Prechtl GmbH Anlagen- und Maschinenbau (10 employees) and Ruhland Druckluft & Systemtechnik GmbH (3 employees), Rettenmeier is taking over all employees.

The creditors have already approved the takeover by Rettenmeier. The antitrust authorities still have to approve the purchase agreement. The purchase price has been kept confidential.

The Rettenmeier Group is one of the leading German suppliers in the wood processing industry. Rettenmeier therefore has the necessary know-how to lead the acquired companies back to success. With Rettenmeier, the Ziegler wood processing companies are in very good hands, emphasized Volker Böhm after the purchase agreement was signed on January 31, 2025.

Rapid process

The sale of Ziegler’s core business took place within a very short time, just two months. Since the end of November 2024, 27 of the 45 Ziegler Group companies have filed for insolvency.

Immediately after the group filed for insolvency in November 2024, Böhm initiated a so-called “structured investor process” and targeted national and international buyers.

Although the wages and salaries of the employees were covered by the insolvency benefit for three months, the wood business operations remained in deficit.

We were under great time pressure from the start, as it was clear early on that after the end of the insolvency benefit period, it would not be possible to maintain the business operations without an investor solution, Volker Böhm said.

Thus an investor agreement had to be secured by the end of January 2025, which would continue the business operations as of February 1, 2025. However, some personnel adjustments were unavoidable in some of the businesses.

The fact that this has been achieved and the four wood businesses can be handed over to the investor is a great success. Without an adjustment, especially in personnel costs, profitable operations and thus the agreed investor solution would have been impossible, added Volker Böhm.

Halted logistics

This is the reason why the business operations of Ziegler Logistik GmbH were halted on January 31, 2025, and approximately 300 employees are being laid off.

According to Böhm, it had long looked like an investor solution could also be found for Ziegler Logistik GmbH. An investor had been considering the takeover until the very end but then decided against a takeover shortly before the proceedings began.

Böhm was forced to cease operations at Ziegler Logistik GmbH at the end of January 2025. In insolvency proceedings, a company may not continue to operate if it is making losses because this would further harm creditors.

I very much regret that numerous Ziegler employees have lost their jobs as a result of the insolvency applications. At the same time, however, I am also relieved that, despite the enormous time pressure and such a difficult order situation, we managed to save almost 770 jobs in wood processing alone. That was by no means certain at the start of the insolvency proceedings, said Volker Böhm.

Recently Volker Böhm announced an investor solution for the naturheld subsidiary, which belonged to Ziegler’s wood processing division. All of the approximately 130 jobs and the location will be retained as a result.

Investor negotiations are still ongoing for some other companies in the Ziegler Group. But decisions are expected shortly here too.

Insolvency is always associated with stress and existential worries for the employees affected. It is all the more admirable that the employees have remained loyal to the company despite this difficult situation and have continued to do their job with full commitment, emphasized Volker Böhm.

Böhm also thanked the suppliers and customers who, through their support, had made an important contribution to the continuation of the Ziegler Group during the preliminary insolvency proceedings.

He also highlighted the support from regional and state-level politicians including the Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs, Hubert Aiwanger, who had supported the group during the proceedings and offered support within the scope of their possibilities.