Aluminium Expo |Alutech Holding Acquires Renowned Aluminum Alloy Die-Casting Company AE Group

According to Aluminium Expo, Alutech Holding GmbH & Co. KG, a financially robust new owner from Germany, has acquired 100% of the shares of AE Group on the advice of Deutsche Invest Mittelstand GmbH in Munich. This sale signifies a crucial milestone in the economic turnaround of this Thuringian aluminum die-casting manufacturer. Alutech Holding plans to retain about 1300 employees of the AE Group. Both parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

"Alutech Holding provides a financially strong partner for the further development of AE Group. Now, our common task is to make the company continuously attractive to employees and customers and to restore AE Group to sustainable profitability," explained Christian Kleinjung, CEO of AE Group. Alutech Holding specializes in acquiring medium-sized companies in special circumstances. "In the past few months, we have had ongoing negotiations with all relevant parties. For many, it was a tense and uncertain time. Therefore, I want to thank our customers, business partners, suppliers, shareholders, supervisory board, financiers old and new, new owners, and employees for their trust," said Christian Kleinjung.

AE Group is one of Germany's leading suppliers in the development and production of aluminum die-cast components, serving well-known global automobile manufacturers and tier-one suppliers. Besides traditional internal combustion engine products, AE Group has recently won new orders for electric vehicles and independent powertrain components, indicating an early start to AE Group's transformation. However, rising energy and commodity market prices, along with general inflationary pressures, have negatively impacted the group's operating profit, highlighting the contradiction with the high investment required for new contracts. With the implementation of a restructuring concept launched in the summer of 2023, through negotiations with customers and financiers, the debt ratio has been reduced again, prices renegotiated, and inflation-related price adjustments and fixed quantity commitments made. "The change of shareholders is another important step in our restructuring. The new investor has assured us that it will advance the transformation we have already initiated. For this, we will have the support of an operational team that will develop and implement various measures," said Christian Kleinjung, CEO of AE Group.