Press Releases, 04.01.2011

Management acquires PrehKeyTec GmbH

Management buyout means continuity for customers and employees

Management of PrehKeyTec GmbH in Mellrichstadt, Germany, has assumed ownership of the specialist in data input systems from its previous parent company Preh GmbH, Bad Neustadt an der Saale, Germany. Aside from the company’s two managing directors, Rolf Ilsemann and Karl Krenig, four additional PrehKeyTec managers are part of the management buyout (MBO). The parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price. The change in ownership will have no effect on customers and PrehKeyTec GmbH’s 50 employees throughout the world. The MBO will ensure maximum continuity in terms of business strategy and customer relations.

Rolf Ilsemann, managing director of PrehKeyTec, explained, “No ifs, ands or buts about it, our management team is totally convinced of PrehKeyTec potential, and so we want to move the company forward under our own control. Moreover, our former parent company established advantageous starting terms and conditions for our road to independence. In order to achieve our ambitious growth goals, we are also open to strategic partnerships.” 

For the Chairman of the Board of Management of Preh GmbH, 

Dr. Michael Roesnick, the sale of PrehKeyTec represents the final step in Preh’s complete concentration on the automotive supplier segment. “The business processes of Preh and PrehKeyTec are very different,” he said. “To this extent, the MBO makes it possible for both companies to concentrate more systematically on their own core competencies.”

As a specialist in innovative data entry systems, PrehKeyTec GmbH mainly develops and produces high-end keyboards for point-of-service applications for retail businesses and for banks and airlines. It has 50 employees throughout the world at three locations. In addition to its headquarters in Mellrichstadt, Germany, which is home to 40 employees, PrehKeyTec has sales operations in France (Cergy-Pontoise) and the U.S.A. (Buffalo Grove, Illinois). 

Preh GmbH is one of the world’s leading automotive suppliers with 2,400 employees in Germany, Portugal, Mexico, the U.S.A., Romania and China. In 2010, Preh had sales of about €350 million.