Increasing speculation about the future of German's fourth largest AWP producer, Bergmann, was laid to rest on Friday of last week with the surprise news that Löwen's managing director, Uwe Christiansen, had bought the company.
Bergmann, based at Rellingen, near Hamburg, is one of the longest-established names in German manufacturing. It is thought to produce around 5,000 AWPs each year and also has a substantial production of change giving machines. The company had been in administration for several months.
Over the past few weeks there had been increasing speculation that Bergmann might be bought. One of the favourites was Russian manufacturer Unicum. But the industry was surprised to hear that Christiansen had tendered his resignation at Löwen and bought it himself.
Christiansen, who originally comes from Hamburg, will now move into the factory from the beginning of June, he has confirmed to InterGame. In the meantime, he is leaving the business in the hands of its general manager, Ulrich Doppertin, who has long experience in the German coin machine industry.
At Löwen, Christiansen will not be replaced. Novomatic board member Jens Halle, who also sits on the Löwen board, said: “Löwen always had three managing directors. In addition to Uwe Christiansen we have Alfred Liebich, who splits his time between Novomatic and Löwen and who handles the financial side of Löwen, and Christian Arras, who was in charge of research and development and who handles many other day-to-day functions at the company. We have absolute confidence in them and they will continue to run the company.”
