POWERFUL CONSORTIUM SUPPORTS MANAGEMENT BUYOUT AND PRESERVES MORE THAN 160 JOBS AT THE STOLBERG SITE
Aachen/Stolberg, 31 March 2021 – The S-UBG Group from Aachen is acquiring business units of LEONI Kerpen GmbH together with a proven consortium of investors. This is a subsidiary of LEONI AG, a provider of products, solutions and services for energy and data management. In addition to S-UBG, the consortium consists of the regionally based investment companies Nomainvest, Vilitas and CoDa Beteiligungs GmbH as well as the Managing Director of LEONI Kerpen GmbH, David Schlenter. The experienced manager has already been responsible for the relevant Datacom and Compound divisions for the past four years and has extensive industry and technology expertise.
Establishment of Kerpen Datacom GmbH
The globally active LEONI AG announced in October 2020 that it would be terminating its activities at the Stolberg site. The management buyout will enable more than 160 of the approximately 380 jobs in Stolberg to be maintained. “The newly founded Kerpen Datacom is very well positioned in its market and ‘Kerpen’ – which can be traced back to the original company name ‘Kerpen Kabel’ – is an established and well-known brand in the market,” says Dr Ansgar Schleicher, member of the S-UBG Group’s Executive Board. “We are establishing this strong foundation and want to develop the company successfully together with David Schlenter.”
Becoming the market leader in the European market segment
The company develops and produces passive network components and passive data centre equipment. Customers are construction companies, data centres and industrial companies with high quality standards. “Network technology as a whole is a global growth market that will continue to gain momentum due to developments such as Industry 4.0 and structured building cabling,” explains Schlenter. “We are already leading in standardisation phase for new technologies such as single-pair Ethernet. With Europe-wide sales and the further development of our high-quality products, we are striving to become the market leader in the European market for passive data systems.”
Former owners rejoin as shareholders
In addition to the current managing director, the former owner family is also committed to LEONI Kerpen’s chances of success: the company was founded in 1919 by the Kerpen family, who sold their shares to LEONI AG in 2006. Today, as Vilitas Deutschland GmbH, it is part of the consortium of investors and intends to continue supporting the growth of the cabling specialist. “We are delighted that things are continuing at the Stolberg site. Kerpen Datacom is an established player in a market of the future – now it’s time to leverage existing potential and further develop the company together with our employees,” explains Dr Philip Kerpen.