SGL Carbon SE has sold its 51% shareholding in the SGL Kümpers GmbH & Co. KG joint venture to Kümpers GmbH and Franz-Jürgen Kümpers. SGL Group will continue to supply carbon fibers, thereby maintaining its existing business relationship with Kümpers. The parties to the contract have agreed to keep the financial details confidential. The joint venture was founded in early 2007 for the production of high-performance materials like fabrics and braids based on carbon and glass fibers.
With the sale of the shares, SGL Group is optimizing its carbon fiber value chain in Germany and Austria by concentrating its expertise in the processing of carbon and glass fibers for composites and composite components within its Composites – Fibers & Materials (CFM) business unit at five sites. These are the three German sites in Meitingen, Wackersdorf (both Bavaria), and Willich (North Rhine-Westphalia), plus Ried and Ort in Austria’s Innkreis region.
The transaction is part of the strategy to consolidate all key activities in the value chain – from carbon fibers and materials to components – under the roof and thus under the overall responsibility of SGL Group. The company recently announced its complete takeover of the former joint ventures SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers (SGL ACF) and BENTELER-SGL with the aim of expanding its capabilities to include solutions for carbon fiber manufacturing and processing as well as processes for serial production.