The Hessian heating manufacturer Viessmann wants to remain a family business even after the sale of its air conditioning division, including the lucrative heat pumps, to the US competitor Carrier Global. Company boss Max Viessmann emphasized in an interview with “Wirtschaftswoche”: “We are and will remain a family business. The Viessmann Group and the brand – which is licensed to Carrier – remain 100 percent family property.”
All other Viessmann activities with annual sales of almost one billion euros would continue with investments. “And we will be Carrier’s largest private individual shareholder. I will move into the board of directors,” said Viessmann. “Well, for me it doesn’t feel like it’s sometimes portrayed in public, a sale of the family business, at most a partial sale.”
Nevertheless, he grew up with the company in Allendorf an der Eder in northern Hesse: “At the weekends, as a child, I followed my father through production on a skateboard.” At the staff meeting for the sale, “I also shed tears,” said Viessmann.
The company had announced that it would sell its air conditioning division, including heat pumps, to the US company Carrier Global for twelve billion euros. Heat pumps in particular are to replace oil and gas heating systems in Germany in the longer term.
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