Due to a bad investment by major shareholders, window profile extruder Gebruder Kommerling Kunststoffwerke GmbH has been taken over by several banks and put up for sale. Kommerling's shareholders had invested in window manufacturer Fermoba SA of Petit-Rederching, France, which recently filed bankruptcy. Kommerling's attempt to save the company failed and caused a financial strain on Kommerling, Frederik Schaefer, Kommerling's marketing manager, said in a Jan. 28 telephone interview from his office in Pirmasens, Germany.
"[Kommerling] has been trying to bail [Fermoba] out of financial trouble for some time," a recent statement from Kommerling said.
In all, Kommerling lost the equivalent of $16 million to $20 million.
However, Schaefer said Kommerling has not gone bankrupt. Instead, the company's shareholders have sold their stake in Kommerling to the banks to protect it from the courts. The Kommerling and Schmid families no longer own or control the company, he added.
The PVC lineal manufacturer, based in Pirmasens, has been put up for sale and already has 12-14 interested buyers, including several American companies, he said.
Among those most interested are profile extruders HT-Troplast AG of Troisdorf, Germany; Rutgers AG of Essen, Germany; and Fombell, Pa.-based Veka Inc., Schaefer said.
"[Troplast] is very interested in buying it," he added.
Interested parties were expected to submit their bids on Jan. 29, and Kommerling expects to complete a sale by the end of the first quarter. Kommerling hopes to announce its new owner in March at the Fensterbau trade show in Nuremberg, Germany, Schaefer said.
"All orders for profiles will be supplied in the normal course of business. Kommerling continues to deliver its products to its customers as usual," the company announced in a written statement.
Just three years ago, Kommerling planned to introduce an expensive, high-end vinyl window to the North American commercial construction market. The company's plans to begin manufacturing profiles in the United States within several years never evolved.
Kommerling also operates a PVC sheet extrusion plant in Huntsville, Ala., which will be sold along with the profile manufacturing facilities.