The new owner and managing partner is Wolf-Peter Graeser. In a statement issued on 11 June, Holger Blümle of receivers Schultze & Braun said: "We are pleased that the lengthy negotiations have found a positive outcome and that Wolf-Peter Graeser gets the chance to set up his staff and his new management.” No sums have been disclosed.
Graeser moves to Lavatec Laundry Technology from a high-profile post with automotive supplier Magna International. From 2004 - 2008 he was CEO of Lapple AG, the Heilbronn-based sheet metal processor for the automotive industry.
He told LCN International that the company has purchased the production and administrative buildings at Heilbronn and is employing 30 staff initially. He hopes this will rise to 60 in the medium term. "It is important for me to help ensure that Heilbronn, which is hard hit by job losses, develops new jobs," Graeser added.
Graeser has now contacted Lavatec customers to assure them that the company can supply new machines, spare parts and ongoing technical support with immediate effect.
Lavatec Laundry Technology will produce a range of laundry equipment including continuous batch washers, washer-extractors, tunnel washers, presses, centrifuges, dryers, ironers and feeders and folders. The company is currently in negotiations with several distribution partners, including Broadbent in the UK, over continuing co-operation. It expects to attend the Expo Detergo industry show in Milan this year and Graeser added that the Lavatec Open House exhibitions, held at the manufacturing headquarters in Heilbronn, would be revived, possibly late this year or early in 2011.
Lavatec Laundry Technology Germany will operate as the parent company. Lavatec Laundry Technology France will replace the former Lavatec SASU subsidiary in Lyon, France, and Lavatec Laundry Technology Italy has also been established.
The site at Sarstedt near Hanover that produced a rail system for laundry bags has been sold.
In the USA, the old Lavatec subsidiary Lavatec Washex Inc filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year.
Graeser told LCN Intenational that Lavatec Laundry Technology Inc. was founded this week (commencing 21 June).
“It is a new company with absolutely no relation and no liabilities concerning the old Lavatec”, he said.
