Gladenbach/ Munich — The Munich-based family-owned Sera­fin Group of Compa­nies (“Sera­fin”) acqui­res Weso-Aurorahütte GmbH (“WESO”), a subsi­diary of the Viess­mann Group (“Viess­mann”), one of the leading inter­na­tio­nal manu­fac­tu­r­ers of heating, indus­trial and cooling systems. Viess­mann Group was advi­sed by DC Advi­sory.

With more than 400 employees and sales of around EUR 64 million, WESO belongs to the to the major German found­ries. The company from Gladen­bach in Hesse specia­li­zes in the manu­fac­ture of high-quality gray cast iron products that are used inter­na­tio­nally in various indus­tries. Last year, the company cele­bra­ted its 130th anniversary.

WESO had been part of the Viess­mann Group for seve­ral deca­des, supp­ly­ing it with castings for its heating tech­no­logy divi­sion. Viess­mann will remain an important custo­mer of WESO in the future. In addi­tion, the foundry serves well-known indus­trial custo­mers from various sectors with a focus on agri­cul­tu­ral and rail­road tech­no­logy. This busi­ness has been conti­nuously expan­ded over the past two deca­des and is to be pushed even further in the future.

Prof. Dr. Martin Viess­mann, Presi­dent of the Execu­tive Board of the Viess­mann Group, states: “With their exem­plary commit­ment, the employees in Gladen­bach have contri­bu­ted signi­fi­cantly to the successful deve­lo­p­ment of WESO over the many years. I would like to express my sincere thanks for this. At the same time, I am plea­sed that with the hando­ver to Sera­fin, WESO conti­nues to be in good, family-run hands. We are firmly convin­ced that WESO is thus also very well posi­tio­ned for the future.”

Phil­ipp Haindl (photo), one of the foun­ders of the Sera­fin group of compa­nies and repre­sen­ta­tive of the share­hol­der family, empha­si­zed that nothing would change for the more than 400 employees of the Gladen­bach foundry. WESO’s previous stra­tegy as a custo­mer foundry will be further deve­lo­ped. “We invest in estab­lished medium-sized compa­nies that have a func­tio­ning busi­ness model and can be further deve­lo­ped through the use of opera­tio­nal and stra­te­gic measures.”

The tran­sac­tion is still subject to appr­oval by the anti­trust authorities.