Autania

Autania Aktiengesellschaft für Industriebeteiligungen is a German management holding company headquartered in Kelkheim near Frankfurt. It was formerly listed on the stock exchange and focuses on medium-sized enterprises in the European tooling and mechanical engineering sectors. The company's history is unusually deep: it traces its lineage to the Auto Union AG automobile group founded in 1932 in Chemnitz, which after World War II was expropriated in East Germany and re-established in Ingolstadt. The western Auto Union AG later became a pure rights-holding entity, was renamed Autania Verwaltungs- und Beteiligungsgesellschaft AG in 1979, and eventually evolved into an industrial holding. In 1990 the Rothenberger industrial family acquired a majority stake, and the company was renamed Autania Aktiengesellschaft für Industriebeteiligungen, with headquarters moved to Frankfurt. During the 1990s it built a portfolio of minority stakes in East German machine-tool companies, but the severe sales crisis of 1993 after the collapse of Eastern European markets caused heavy losses. Under Helmut Rothenberger's leadership from 1996 the holding stabilized. From 2000 onward, under the banner "Autania – Advanced Technologies," the company grew through acquisitions and was admitted to the SDAX small-cap index on 23 December 2002. Ownership changed hands several times: in 2003 the Swiss Isosolar Nordic Holding AG (later Autania International AG) acquired the Rothenberger family stakes and made a mandatory offer, accumulating 93.45% of shares. In 2006 the majority stake passed to Fässler & Partner Treuhand AG, now Autania Holding AG, based in Arbon, Switzerland, as a wholly owned subsidiary of Dr. Helmut Rothenberger Holding in Anif/Salzburg, Austria. A squeeze-out procedure was initiated in 2007. Today Autania operates as a private management holding for mid-sized industrial companies, no longer publicly traded.

The history of Autania goes back to the automobile group Auto Union AG, founded in June 1932 in Chemnitz on the initiative of the Sächsische Staatsbank. It was formed from the Zschopauer Motorenwerke J. S. Rasmussen AG with its subsidiary Audiwerke AG in Zwickau, the Horchwerke AG (also Zwickau), and the Automobilwerk Siegmar of the Wanderer-Werke in Schönau near Chemnitz. After World War II, the company, which had been 90% owned by the Saxon state through the Staatsbank, was expropriated in the Soviet occupation zone by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD), and the Auto Union AG was deleted from the commercial register in Chemnitz on 17 August 1948. In anticipation of resuming vehicle production in West Germany, the board member Hanns Schüler of the still-existing Auto Union AG i. L. in Chemnitz created the legal conditions to found the subsidiary Auto Union AG in Ingolstadt in 1948, in the American occupation zone. It took over the real estate, patents, and name rights of the old company located in the western occupation zones. As early as December 1945, former Auto Union employees had founded the Zentraldepot für AUTO UNION-Ersatzteile GmbH in Ingolstadt, from which Auto Union GmbH emerged on 3 September 1949, resuming automobile production. The Auto Union AG, however, limited itself to managing the real estate and the name and patent rights, since the former production sites—except for the former DKW plant in Berlin-Spandau—were all on GDR territory. At the end of 1949, Auto Union sold all patent and name rights to Auto Union GmbH in Ingolstadt. In 1959, Auto Union GmbH in Ingolstadt was taken over by Daimler-Benz and finally passed to Volkswagenwerk in 1964. Volkswagen also acquired the Swabian manufacturer NSU in 1969 and merged it with the Ingolstadt subsidiary to form Audi NSU Auto Union AG (today's Audi AG), headquartered in Neckarsulm. In 1979, Volkswagen finally acquired the remaining name rights to Auto Union from the Auto Union AG, which had meanwhile moved to Essen and renamed itself Autania Verwaltungs- und Beteiligungsgesellschaft AG. During the 1980s, the Autania Verwaltungs- und Beteiligungsgesellschaft held stakes in some smaller companies in the environmental technology sector but otherwise remained largely out of the public eye. In 1990, the Rothenberger Group, active in environmental and tool technology and owned by the Hessian industrial family Rothenberger, entered the company and acquired a majority stake. To this end, a capital increase from 4 to 64 million DM was carried out in the form of a contribution in kind of WMB Beteiligungsgesellschaft für Werkzeugmaschinenbau mbH (which bundled the family's industrial activities, including Hermann Kolb GmbH, Buderus Schleiftechnik GmbH, and Mauser Waldeck AG). In the following years, Autania was restructured. In 1990, the company headquarters was moved to Frankfurt and the name changed to Autania Aktiengesellschaft für Industriebeteiligungen. The plan was to transform Autania into a holding for minority stakes in the toolmaking industry. As part of the transformation into a holding for minority stakes in the German machine tool industry, Autania acquired a series of participations in companies in this sector in East Germany. Due to the severe sales crisis of 1993 following the disappearance of Eastern European markets, on which the participations were largely dependent, Autania had to accept high losses despite an interim strengthened equity of 113 million DM. As a result, total foreclosure proceedings and the loss of individual participations as well as a strong reduction of equity could not be avoided. This led to a difficult situation for the holding, which could only be stabilized under the leadership of Helmut Rothenberger from 1996. Due to acquisition-driven growth and a focus on the stock exchange, the share was admitted to the SDAX small-cap index of Deutsche Börse on 23 December 2002. In 2003, the Swiss-based Isosolar Nordic Holding AG in Arbon initially took over the shares of the two Rothenberger family branches. This led to a mandatory offer to the other shareholders, with which a total of 93.45% of the shares were bundled with the new acquirer. Behind Isosolar Nordic Holding, which was renamed Autania International AG on 21 April 2004, stood with a 50% stake Mithril GmbH (owner Immo Ströher, who held or holds shares in Q-Cells or SOLON, for example), as well as Ralf E. Hess from Kronberg. In 2006, there was another change of ownership, in which the majority of 93.45% of Autania shares were taken over by Fässler & Partner Treuhand AG, now operating as Autania Holding AG, based in Arbon, Switzerland, as a 100% subsidiary of Dr. Helmut Rothenberger Holding, based in Anif/Salzburg, Austria. In 2007, a change in ownership among the aforementioned shareholders created the basis for a squeeze-out procedure.

• 2007

  Basis for squeeze-out procedure created through change in ownership.

• 2006

  Fässler & Partner Treuhand AG (now Autania Holding AG) takes over 93.45% majority.

• 2004

  Isosolar Nordic Holding renamed Autania International AG on 21 April.

• 2003

  Isosolar Nordic Holding AG acquires Rothenberger family stakes; mandatory offer results in 93.45% ownership.

• 2002

  Autania share admitted to SDAX index on 23 December.

• 1996

  Helmut Rothenberger takes leadership and stabilizes the holding.

• 1993

  Severe sales crisis after loss of Eastern European markets leads to high losses.

• 1990

  Rothenberger Group acquires majority stake; headquarters moved to Frankfurt; renamed Autania Aktiengesellschaft für Industriebeteiligungen.

• 1979

  Volkswagen acquires remaining Auto Union name rights; company renamed Autania Verwaltungs- und Beteiligungsgesellschaft AG.

• 1948

  Auto Union AG deleted from Chemnitz commercial register; new Auto Union AG founded in Ingolstadt.

• 1932

  Auto Union AG founded in Chemnitz, the origin of Autania's history.

A management holding company for medium-sized enterprises in the European tooling and mechanical engineering sectors.

Product categories. Management holding services · Industrial investments · Tooling and mechanical engineering holdings

1. 1Autania - Wikidatawikidata.org
2. 2Autania - Wikipedia (German)de.wikipedia.org