2009-07-20 Rosenthal AG

Italian kitchenware manufacturer Sambonet buys Wedgewood’s Rosenthal subsidiary

Deal saves Rosenthal’s 1,200-strong workforce and secures fresh investment

Selb / Germany. Luxury crockery manufacturer Wedgewood’s German subsidiary Rosenthal has been purchased by Italian designer kitchenware firm Sambonet. The purchase follows a rapid initial restructuring and negotiations by Volker Boehm, In-solvency Administrator appointed from specialist law firm Schultze & Braun.

Sambonet is taking over the entire business operations of Rosenthal AG, including all employees as well as the trademark rights, patents, and production facilities. While 300 people were laid off in the initial restructuring, Rosenthal’s remaining 1,200 em-ployees now have a more secure future, resulting from the closure of unprofitable sites, adjustment of product range and various cost-saving measures. Sambonet has said it wants to maintain all Rosenthal current production sites and make significant investments in the company over the coming years.

The deal was signed on 10 July 2009 and became effective after the main creditor, Bank of America, agreed the release of all collateral in the end of last week. This in-cluded the trademark rights which, after payment of the purchase price, will be trans-ferred into the ownership of the new company Rosenthal GmbH to be founded by Sambonet. A confidentiality clause has been agreed on the purchase price.

“Sambonet is an investor which complements Rosenthal perfectly”, said Volker Boehm, after signing the agreement. “It is a successful international enterprise that is close to the markets and very innovative. It will offer Rosenthal a truly fresh start. Sambonet can use Rosenthal´s existing retail stores and can also take advantage of the well-developed distribution network of Rosenthal in the international retail trade.”

Pierluigi Coppo, CEO of Sambonet, said: “For the turnaround and the Rosenthal in-tegration there is still a lot of work ahead of us, but we are very optimistic and proud to engineer the new beginning of Rosenthal”.

For further information please contact our spokesperson:
Mail: Presse@schubra.de, Phone: +49 (0) 7841/708-0

Schultze & Braun Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft für Insolvenzverwaltung mbH http://www.schubra.de, Email: mail@schubra.de