A look at the Ziegler Group, the German company that bought the Schweighofer – HS Timber sawmill in Sebeș. A Bavarian timber house builder that made its first acquisitions outside Germany only last year

The Ziegler Group, which announced the acquisition of the HS Timber (formerly Schweighofer) sawmill in Sebeș, has its roots in the Upper Palatinate in the German state of Bavaria and has experienced a rapid rise in recent years, with acquisitions and expansion of production divisions ranging from logistics, technology, decoration, tourism, gastronomy and even house manufacturing.

According to the company, building smart and sustainable wooden houses in Europe is the main focus of the current management.

Ziegler made its first acquisitions outside Germany last year: two wood processing plants in Sweden.

The company was founded in 1948 by Ludwig Ziegler and has remained in the family to this day.

The first log yard was built in 1981 after the company was taken over by Wilhelm Ziegler. Eight years later he built a sawmill at a very good time for the German economy.

According to open sources, in 2007 the company gained considerable momentum: it greatly expanded its production capacity to one million cubic metres of timber per year and built a 370,000 square metre drying plant.

In 2008 it was taken over by the current manager, Stefan Ziegler, who has put the pedal to the metal and diversified the company’s divisions. Within a few years, the company set up a transport division and a decoration division.

In 2017 it bought a planing mill and also in 2017 a joint venture was set up to operate the Wiesau and Hof (Bavaria) container terminals.

A year later, Ziegler set up a logistics company in Nuremberg. A series of acquisitions and takeovers of well-known companies on the German market followed, in parallel with the construction of new production facilities (factories, warehouses, work lines, etc.).

The Ziegler Group built an impressive headquarters and even entered the hotel market. Many of the group’s new investments have been based on cutting-edge technologies.

In 2019 it received the most important award given to Bavarian companies, the Bavarian Founder’s Award in the „succession” category for dynamism and versatility.

First investment outside Germany: two sawmills in Sweden

In 2022, Ziegler made a major acquisition: two sawmills in Sweden.

With the acquisitions of the two sawmills Balungstrands Sågverk and Bäckebrons Sågverk, the family-owned company founded in Bavaria has increased its capacities by 700,000 cubic metres per year. For Ziegler, it was the first acquisition from outside Germany, according to specialist portal Timber-online.

After the acquisition, Ziegler climbed from 19th place in Europe’s top timber producers to 15th.

In 2023 it also arrived in Romania, where it announced the acquisition of one of the largest wood processing plants, HS Timber in Sebeș (until 2019 called Holzindustrie Schweighofer).

Basically, Ziegler Group bought Holzindustrie Schweighofer Sebeș as a share sale, but the details are not yet public.

The value of the transaction has not been disclosed, but the company has announced that the takeover is expected to be completed by mid-year, with regulatory approval. The Ziegler Group is also taking over the approximately 650 employees at Sebeș.

The jump has also been seen in the company’s financial situation. If in 2019 the company had sales of 319 million euros, in 2022 it managed to exceed one billion euros.

Estimates for 2023 are €1.3 billion and €1.6 billion for 2024. The company also expects to have 4,000 employees in 2024 compared to 2,700 in 2022.

The German company doesn’t seem to have had any big problems in recent years. On the other hand, HS Timber (formerly Holzindustrie Schweighofer Sebeș) has not been immune to scandals in recent years.

Several press investigations in Romania and abroad have talked about illegal logging and large quantities of timber whose origin was unclear.

The company has also been the subject of investigations by the authorities, some of which resulted in National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) cases and even DIICOT raids (in 2018), which verified the differences between the quantities of wood in the paperwork and those at the factory.

The Sebeș mill gate was also constantly picketed by various civic groups, who protested against what they called „illegal logging”.

Translated