The Pfleiderer GmbH ''(former name: Pfleiderer AG)'' is a formerly listed company headquartered in the German city of
Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz, Germany. The company specializes in the production of wood-based materials, especially
medium-density fibreboard
Medium-density fibreboard (MDF) is an engineered wood product made by breaking down hardwood or softwood residuals into wood fibres, often in a defibrator, combining it with wax and a resin binder, and forming it into panels by applying high temp ...
and
particle board
Particle board, also known as chipboard or low-density fiberboard, is an engineered wood product manufactured from wood chips and a synthetic resin or other suitable binder, which is pressed and extruded. Particle board is often confused with ori ...
. As of 2012, Pfleiderer employed around 3100 people at eight different plants located in Germany and Poland. The company is Germany's market leader in the laminated particle board market. Since 2012, Pfleiderer is a 100% subsidiary of Atlantik S.A. from
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
.
The company was founded in 1894 in the town of
Heilbronn
Heilbronn () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, surrounded by Heilbronn (district), Heilbronn District. With over 126,000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state.
From the late Mid ...
and grew to one of Europe's largest producers of wood-based materials. When management was taken over by Hans Overdiek in 2003, a policy of rapid expansion was started. The company became excessively
leveraged
In finance, leverage (or gearing in the United Kingdom and Australia) is any technique involving borrowing funds to buy things, hoping that future profits will be many times more than the cost of borrowing. This technique is named after a lever ...
and made overpriced acquisitions, aimed primarily at the later struggling U.S. housing market. When the
real estate crisis came to a head in 2008, Pfleiderer's high debt load turned into a financial disaster which led the company into bankruptcy in March 2012.
With almost one billion euros of net debt, Pfleiderer became one of the largest corporate failures of recent German history.
In 2006, the track system unit was sold to
AXA Private Equity
Ardian (formerly Axa Private Equity) is a France-based, independent private equity investment company, founded and managed by Dominique Senequier. It is one of the largest European-headquartered private equity funds. The company was originally ...
.
As of 2013, the company has successfully emerged from bankruptcy. This was mostly achieved by the sale of many business units, including the laminate business and all North American activities.
Since January 2016 the company belongs to Pfleiderer Group, headquartered in Wrocław (Poland) and listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Manufacturing companies of Germany