Buffet acquiring Keilwerth

[Steve]

http://www.buffet-crampon.com/en/news.php?mode=printNews&nid=610

08/02/2010
The GROUPE BUFFET CRAMPON acquires the german musical instruments manufacturer SCHREIBER AND KEILWERTH


Mantes La Ville, August 1, 2010 – Buffet Crampon, top musical instruments manufacturer and world leader in clarinets is acquiring Schreiber & Keilwerth, the internationally renowned German musical instruments manufacturer.


The Buffet Crampon Group, headed by Antoine Beaussant, is acquiring all the assets of the German manufacturer Schreiber & Keilwerth, which had filed for insolvency in March 2010.


The new Buffet Crampon Deutschland GmbH will continue the W. Schreiber & Julius Keilwerth brands which are part of the European musical heritage.


The area of Markneukirchen has a long tradition in musical instruments manufacturing. The modern factory at Markneukirchen has a capacity of 50.000 instruments per year. Its integration into the Buffet Crampon Group will save more than 140 jobs.


« We are proud and happy to welcome the Schreiber & Keilwerth team in the Buffet Crampon Group. Our companies have been working together for more than 40 years» declares Antoine Beaussant. «Our profession in musical instruments is a combination of know‐how and art. The skills of our employees, combined with a high‐precision technology, are our most valuable assets».
« The W. Schreiber & Julius Keilwerth brands will perfectly complement the Buffet Crampon brands in some markets where we are currently not present. We expect additional 8 million Euros turnover», adds Antoine Beaussant.


Buffet Crampon is the market leader in Boehm system clarinets, and manufactures oboes, bassoons, English horns and saxophones. The Schreiber German system clarinets and bassoons, as well as the Julius Keilwerth saxophones will be an important addition.


The York instruments have never found their place in the Brass Band world and will be discontinued. Buffet Crampon will pursue its strong development in this market through its Besson and Antoine Courtois brands, which are experiencing a period of growth, particularly in the USA and Europe.


Argos Soditic, 92% shareholder of the Buffet Crampon Group, has brought its financial support to the transaction. «Schreiber & Keilwerth has been an important supplier for Buffet Crampon for years. The combination of these two companies brings many synergies. It is an important strategic move for Buffet Crampon which is strengthening its position as a market leader » declares Louis Godron, General Manager of Argos Soditic .




About the Buffet Crampon Group:
Founded in 1825 in Paris, Buffet Crampon is one of the largest musical instrument manufacturers and number one in the world for the professional clarinet. With its three brands, Buffet Crampon, Antoine Courtois created in 1803 and Besson founded 1837, the Group is active in the segments of woodwind (clarinets, bass clarinets, oboes, bassoons, saxophones) and brass (tubas, euphoniums, saxhorns, trumpets, cornets, altos, bugles, trombones).
Benefiting from a worldwide distribution network with subsidiaries in the United States and Japan, the Group achieved in 2009 a turnover of 53 million euros, 92% of the instruments are exported.




About ARGOS SODITIC :
Created in 1989, Argos Soditic is an independent European Private Equity firm with offices in Paris, Geneva and Milan. Argos Soditic focuses on takeover transactions (MBO, MBI, BIMBO, spin‐off, reorganisation and build up) in medium sized companies with revenues of € 20 million to € 400 million.
The funds managed by Argos Soditic take majority stakes ranging from € 10 million to € 50 million. Argos Soditic develops an original investment strategy focusing on takeover transactions that require financial shareholders to be particularly involved at the management’s side and whose value creation strategy favours growth over leverage. The operations Argos Soditic has carried out include Buffet Crampon, Roc‐Eclerc, Oxbow, Du Pareil au Même, Kermel and Eau Ecarlate in France, Bellco and TermoIndustriale in Italy and Maillefer and ORS in Switzerland.
The € 275 million Argos Soditic V fund raised in 2006 has allowed the firm to carry out 14 transactions to date: eight MBOs (Driver/Sitour, GPP, FHB, Kägi, Orsyp, LEXSI, Misapor and TermoIndustriale), four BIMBOs (Axyntis, Marie Laure PLV, Alkan and Bellco) and two MBIs (Dinno Santé and Mertz). Three of these have been sold to date: GPP, Dinno Santé and Kägi.




PRESS CONTACT BUFFET CRAMPON
Buffet Crampon - 5 rue Maurice Berteaux – 78711 – Mantes La Ville – France
www.buffetcrampon.fr
Isabelle AZRA - Corporate Communication Manager
Tel : +33 1 30 98 51 33 - Mobile : +33 6 70 40 79 37 -isabelle.azra@buffetcrampon.fr

CONTACT ARGOS SODITIC
Céline Lanoux - Press relations
Tel: +33 (0)1 53 67 20 50
clanoux@argos-soditic.com

Contact us Print ©2006 Buffet Crampon

 

[Steve]

the interesting thing that I didn't know either was the 3rd paragraph

.... Schreiber & Keilwerth, which had filed for insolvency in March 2010 ....

 

[Steve]

but it looks like Buffet is going to make saxophones again in a direct / indirect sort of way.

 

[saxhound]

but it looks like Buffet is going to make saxophones again in a direct / indirect sort of way.

Until they move production to Taiwan or the ROC!

 

[Helen]

Until they move production to Taiwan or the ROC!

Well if you count the Keilwerth student horns, they already do have Asian horns in their Keilwerth portfolio.

 

[Helen]

the interesting thing that I didn't know either was the 3rd paragraph

Yup, that was a dark day. Many of us cried, but it was not unexpected. Years ago I had already heard from a Keilwerth dealer here in Canada that they (Keilwerth, not the dealer) were losing money on their pro horns.

I have often wondered if that was part of the reason for moving some of the production to Markneukirchen, since J. Keilwerth had been in Nauheim since Julius Keilwerth resettled back in Germany after WWII.

I was recently sent 60+ pages of original research on German saxophone brands conducted by German saxophone player, historian, and technician Uwe Ladwig. He is a contributing writer to the German music journal Sonic: sax & brass. His articles are about saxophone brands and their histories. I should see if his Keilwerth article mentions anything about the move to Markneukirchen.

BTW, his article in September is about the Dörfler & Jörka saxophones that are basically Keilwerth clones. He discovered some very interesting info about them. As soon as his article is published, I will be updating my D&J pages.

 

[pete]

I'm looking forward to seeing your article, Helen!

I remember that, a couple years back, Keilwerth tried to do a bunch of gimmicky horns, some of which are still around: titanium plate, Shadow series, copper, etc.

However, I do think it'll be interesting that Buffet will own Keilwerth, not only because Keilwerth used to make the Buffet Expression, but because that might make Buffet pull back from the Asian-made 400 and step back into the high-end pro market.

What would a horn that combines the orchestral aspirations of the S3 Prestige with the growl of the SX90R be like? Could be a really nice horn. Short term? Might be some really cheap newish Keilwerths out there!

I wonder what this is going to be like for the Keilwerth dealers. Hey, Dave Kessler! Drop us a line!

 

[pete]

I just got an e-mail that mentioned that Dave said all this is up in the air.

In my response to that e-mail, I got to thinking: this is going to affect a lot of companies:

* The folks that make the Buffet 400 in Taiwan/China.
* The folks in ROC that make the Keilwerth ST horns.
* Amati, which makes the EX90 (and does some work on the SX90, I've been told).
* The Richard Keilwerth company, whose saxophone line looks like rebadged SX-90s. RK will probably be just fine, though, as their business is primarily with clarinets.
* The Julius Keilwerth & Schreiber Companies -- obviously. The article I was sent said that they're keeping on all of 8 folks in Nauheim during this "insolvency" and then 'site will be closed.

The good, cloaked with bad, is that the 118 folks laid off are going to be allowed to reapply for their jobs (see the article I mention. It's worded oddly, but I think I've got the general point) and the 134 folks still with Keilwerth have retained their jobs.

It's never fun to have to reapply for your old job.

I also mentioned in my e-mail response, that it must be rough for a company that survived a World War to ask for help from a French company -- especially one that they made saxophones for just a couple years ago.

As I mentioned in the above post, I hope this goes well. I've owned a Buffet sax (Dynaction) and a Keilwerth sax (Bundy) and they were great horns. I was sorry to see Buffet abandon their pro line and I'd be equally sorry to see horns as nice as the keilwerth ones go away.

 

[tictactux]

the interesting thing that I didn't know either was the 3rd paragraph

.... Schreiber & Keilwerth, which had filed for insolvency in March 2010 ....

Probably I am evil, paranoid or both at the same time... For years, Buffet had their B-10/12 and E-11 clarinets (plus Saxes, I gather) made by S&K. Then they announced their E11France, dropped S&K like the proverbial hot potato, patiently waited until the thitherto heeling company keeled and then bought the carcass for cheap.
Then again, this happens every day in the world of stencillers and part-line and single model suppliers. Go along, nothing to see here...

 

[Steve]

Probably I am evil, paranoid or both at the same time... For years, Buffet had their B-10/12 and E-11 clarinets (plus Saxes, I gather) made by S&K. Then they announced their E11France, dropped S&K like the proverbial hot potato, patiently waited until the thitherto heeling company keeled and then bought the carcass for cheap.
Then again, this happens every day in the world of stencillers and part-line and single model suppliers. Go along, nothing to see here...

I was curious what was going to happen to Schreiber when Buffet partially dropped them. The German labor market/economy is built so much different than the US, you wonder how they can still afford those high labor rates.

 

[tictactux]

The German labor market/economy is built so much different than the US, you wonder how they can still afford those high labor rates.

I don't think it's fundamentally different. The laws of capitalism apply there as well. Granted, the state interferes a lot more into business operations. Per the wages - what counts is how many burgers you may be able to buy for an hour of work, and there I don't think the two countries are all that different. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mac_Index)

Of course, when doing cross-border business, things are getting a bit tricky.

 

[pete]

For years, Buffet had their B-10/12 and E-11 clarinets (plus Saxes, I gather) made by S&K.

I was unaware of that. Perhaps we should create a new thread on that.

Buffet had their "Expression" sax line made by Keilwerth -- just a SX90 in different engraving -- but, up until a couple years ago, Buffet also produced the S3 Prestige as their pro model saxophone. After that, Buffet had the 400 line made for them by a Chinese or Taiwanese company.

Now, the Prestige may have been assembled by Keilwerth, or even completely built by Keilwerth, but it had such a similarity to the S1 model that I'd have to say that the S3 was, at least, DESIGNED by Buffet.

Then again, Buffet was purchased by Boosey and Hawkes in 1981, was part of The Music Group until 2003 and became independent in 2005. Keilwerth also has a bit of history being bought and sold in the past few years, according to the Wikipedia article that quotes my former website.

Hmmm. I should update that Wiki page ....

 

[tictactux]

Perhaps we should create a new thread on that.

Yeah, create a Darwinian family tree of various instrument models (interspersed with the odd intelligent design specimen), who copied whom, who stencilled for whom, who bought whom...and soon we'll find out that, in terms of promiscuitiy, SATC (or various celebrieties' minglings) is a rather dull and monogamous story...

 

[pete]

That's not necessarily a bad thing, TTT. A very large percentage of the e-mails I've gotten over the years are for student instruments.

As a "for instance", a particular 1950-1960ish Evette-Schaeffer student model sax was made by Orsi and based on a Malerne design.

Hey, I know a few of the family trees ....