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ReprintsReport: Owners consider selling Karmann
Automotive News Europe
June 9, 2008 09:35 CET
UPDATED: 06/05/08 10:21 CET
FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) -- The owners of Karmann are considering selling the company. "The family is examining all strategic options," a spokesman told the Handelsblatt newspaper. The German supplier has been hit by sliding sales as it struggles to obtain assembly contracts. A shareholder's meeting was taking place Monday morning, a spokesman said. Handelsblatt said the owners are already in talks with possible buyers, though a decision on the matter will likely not be made before next month. The 107-year old Osnabrueck, Germany-based company, famous for making the Karmann Ghia car model, last year posted sales of about 1.5 billion euros, some 16 percent less than in 2006, according to the newspaper. While its business with convertible roofs is flourishing, the company has struggled to win assembly contracts, and it may have to shut its painting and assembly operations in 2010 if its earnings situation does not recover, the newspaper said. Karmann, which under a contract expiring next year assembles Daimler's Mercedes CLK convertible in Osnabrueck, has already cut 500 of its 5,000 Germany-based jobs and plans to eliminate another 1,000 positions. |
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