Taylor Wessing advises insolvency administrator on the sale of the ZIEGLER-wood processing division to Rettenmeier

Taylor Wessing, under the lead of Munich based partners Dr Hendrik Boss and Dr Philip Cavaillès, successfully advised the insolvency administrator Volker Böhm (Schultze & Braun) on the sale of major parts of Ziegler's wood processing division. Timber group Rettenmeier Holding AG is taking over the business operations of the insolvent companies Ziegler Holzindustrie GmbH & Co. KG, Ziegler Naturenergie GmbH, Ziegler Forstservice GmbH and Holzzentrum Ziegler GmbH as well as the non-insolvent Prechtl GmbH Anlagen- und Maschinenbau and Ruhland Druckluft & Systemtechnik GmbH. Taylor Wessing supported the insolvency administrator in all legal matters relating to the transaction and successfully led the negotiations to signing.

The sale secures a majority of the jobs and guarantees the preservation of all locations. The creditors have already approved the transaction; antitrust approval is still pending. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

The successful transfer of the businesses to an experienced investor is an important step towards long-term stabilization. The sale therefore marks a milestone in the restructuring of the Ziegler Group. Negotiations on investor solutions for other parts of the Ziegler Group are ongoing.

Since the end of November 2024, 27 of the 45 Ziegler Group companies had filed for insolvency. The group had embarked on an aggressive growth course in recent years, not least through acquisitions. In addition to its core business of woodworking and processing for the construction industry, the Ziegler Group is now also active in logistics, pellet production, forestry, house and module construction and related trades such as building services. However, in the midst of its growth phase, the group was hit hard by the slump in demand in the construction sector as a result of the war in Ukraine and the rise in interest rates. According to its own information, the Ziegler Group employed around 3,000 people in three countries (Germany, Sweden and Romania) at the beginning of the insolvency filings and generated group sales of around 750 million euros in 2023 in weak markets.

Legal Advisors of insolvency administrator/Volker Böhm

Taylor Wessing: Dr Hendrik Boss (Partner, Restructuring & Insolvency), Dr Philip Cavaillès (both lead, Partner, Corporate/M&A), Maik Luttmann, (Salary Partner), Julia Siedhoff (Salary Partner), Lisa Iwersen (Senior Associate), Constantin Borowiak, Dr Hendrik Nowak, Timo Pröbster (all Associate, all Restructuring & Insolvency, Munich/Dusseldorf), Fritz Krings (Senior Associate), Inken Brandt, LL.M., Eric-Sebastian Velten, LL.M., Henrik Grawe (all Associates) (all Corporate/M&A, Munich), Dr Marco Hartmann-Rüppel (Partner), Dr Stefan Horn, LL.B. (Salary Partner), Lena Rindsfus (Associate, all Hamburg, all Competition, EU & Trade), Dr Michael Kieffer (Partner, Commercial, Munich), Rudi Hasenberg (Salary Partner, Tax, Frankfurt), Dr Klara Pototzky (Salary Partner, Employment), Dr Tim Schwarz (Salary Partner, IT/Data Protection, both Munich).