Investor takes over Römertopf: production abroad in future
Following the insolvency of the ceramics company Römertopf from Rhineland-Palatinate, production is to move abroad. "Due to the higher bid, an investor was awarded the trademark rights and warehouse, who will have the popular products of the cult brand manufactured abroad," announced Managing Director Frank Gentejohann on Monday after the Römertopf Group's creditors' meeting. "After 56 years, the location, brand and 36 jobs are now lost for the Westerwald and the Kannenbäckerland region."
Accordingly, the creditors' meeting decided in favor of p:os handels GmbH, headquartered in Hamm, as the investor. The company confirmed this to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur. According to Gentejohann, the company from North Rhine-Westphalia will take over on December 1. It was not initially known where production would be relocated abroad.
According to Römertopf, more than 50 million Römertopf pots have been sold since the 1970s. Meat and vegetables can be cooked together in the oven in the oval clay pot with lid. Römertopf Keramik GmbH & Co KG filed for insolvency at the end of June, citing a drop in sales at the start of the war in Ukraine as the main reason. In addition to consumer restraint and anxiety, there was also an "explosion in the cost of energy, raw materials, operating resources and transportation".
There had been a dispute between the shareholders in the insolvency proceedings. Gentejohann had preferred an investor who, according to him, wanted to keep and expand production in Ransbach-Baumbauch. As the shareholders were unable to reach an agreement, Römertopf Verwertung GmbH & Co. KG, the owner of the trademark rights, also filed for insolvency in September after the manufacturing company.
With the investor's acquisition of Römertopf's trademark rights and warehouse, the popular consumer goods of the brand will now be manufactured abroad. Despite the investor's takeover, the location and 36 jobs in the Westerwald and Kannenbäckerland region have been lost.
Source: www.dpa.com
