Ex-employer president sold
Chinese want to swallow suppliers
02/17/2022, 3:05 p.m
The company of longtime BDA boss Dieter Hundt is for sale. Apparently, Chinese investors are now hoping that the auto supplier will be awarded the contract. The Ministry of Economic Affairs does not seem averse.
Former employer president Dieter Hundt is about to sell his family business Allgaier to a Chinese investor. This is reported by the “Handelsblatt”. According to information from the newspaper, the Federal Ministry of Economics is running a corresponding investment review procedure for the automotive supplier and process technology manufacturer. According to reports, the ministry is not averse.
Dieter Hundt was employer president from 1996 to 2013.
(Photo: picture alliance/dpa)
Employee groups also confirmed that the only remaining interested party is a Chinese company. According to company circles, the Chinese have already invested in Germany. Allgaier himself did not want to comment on this.
Hundt was the first manager from outside the family to take over the management in 1975, according to the Baden-Württemberger website – until he became head of the supervisory board in 2008. Over time, he increased his shares in Allgaier, and the family of the long-standing president of the employers’ association BDA now owns the entire company.
Dieter-Hundt-Allee in southern China
However, the supplier specializing in bodywork and special tool construction, which still has 1,700 employees, has had significant problems for several years, the newspaper writes – which have been exacerbated by Corona. The company, with annual sales of between 400 and 500 million euros, had debts and made losses in 2020. For four years, employees have waived holiday and Christmas bonuses. According to the report, a restructuring plan including massive job cuts will run until 2024.
As employer president, Hundt campaigned for Germany as a business location, but as an entrepreneur he maintained good contacts in China. In the southern Chinese city of Jieyang, a street was even named after him: Dieter-Hundt-Allee.