Germany: Huppmann transformed into a joint stock corporation

Huppmann GmbH, Kitzingen, announced on July 27 that it is transformed into a joint stock corporation. At a meeting on 28 June 2005, the Supervisory Board appointed the members of the Executive Board of Huppmann AG. As members of the board, the previous Managing Directors August Lenz and Peter Fromm as well as Georg Brecht (previously Director Finance and Administration) and Andreas Holleber (previously Head of Project Management) will ensure continuity.

"With the conversion into a joint stock corporation, we as a medium-sized and family-owned company assume an internationally recognized type of business organization, which will further enhance our strategic and competitive position" says August Lenz, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO. "Thus, the company will be even more transparent for the customers. We are not planning a stock market listing. Huppmann will remain in family hands and we still want to make the decisions ourselves."

Huppmann reacts to the increasing globalization and the aggressive competition in the brewing industry with the implementation of clear and effective structures. This also includes that all operational activities of the Huppmann Group are bundled in a joint stock corporation. A clear management structure provides the company with the necessary flexibility and the ability to react quickly in a hard-fought market. With the further expansion of sales activities for new plants and also for services, Huppmann AG will increase its customer presence worldwide. The state-of-the-art production facilities that have been set up in recent years will now be further optimized with regard to production processes and quality. The successful completion of several major projects in 2004 proved that the management is on the right track. Huppmann will consistently expand these structures in future.

The members of the Executive Board
As Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO, August Lenz (40) will be in charge of the overall coordination of the company. August Lenz has been Managing Director of the company since 1998 and since 2002 he has had the sole right of representation as Managing Partner.

Peter Fromm (56) will serve as Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board and CSO. Before he was appointed a member of the Huppmann Group management in 2003, Peter Fromm had been the successful head of Huppmann Handel for several years.

Georg Brecht (55) will assume the position of CFO and be responsible for all commercial activities. He joined the company in 1999 as Director Finance and Administration and has had the overall responsibility for the commercial activities of the Huppmann Group so far.

Andreas Holleber (37), who has been with the company for 9 years already, will serve as CTO. Previously, as Head of Project Management, he had been responsible for all major projects of the Huppmann Group.

Division directors for the operational business
In the operational business, the Executive Board of Huppmann AG will be supported by a team of experienced division directors. This management committee consists of the following members: Reinhard Dworschak (Finance and Administration Director and Speaker of the Business Management), Roland W. Schlenker (General Sales Director Brewhouse Plants), Markus Auinger (General Sales Director Turn-Key Plants), Joachim Göppert (Technical Director), Jürgen Finster (Project Management Director), Edelgard Pieper-Pavel (Head of Financial Accounting), Thomas Hörnig (Head of Procurement), Rainer Hill (Head of Human Resources) and Torsten Ussat (Production Director).

Huppmann AG
The family-owned business was founded in 1874 and has 380 employees today. All production facilities of Huppmann are located in Kitzingen. Huppmann AG has been operating worldwide in the field of brewhouse equipment (from malt intake up to cold wort) and turnkey plants (complete breweries) for decades and has an excellent reputation. A row of key projects that have been executed recently confirms this. Amongst them are well known names such as Royal Grolsch/The Netherlands, Brewery Warka/Poland (Zywiec-Group), Pilsner Urquell/Czech Republic (SABMiller), Birra Peroni/Italy (SABMiller) and Kronenbourg/France (S&N). Due to market-oriented research and development, Huppmann could, again and again, present optimized processes and systems in the fields of brewhouse technology as well as energy and refrigeration technology, which had a positive impact on costs, flexibility, product quality and environmental protection. Thus, Huppmann AG has a vital role to set more and more demanding standards and to assist the world's leading brewery groups as well as medium-sized companies in achieving these objectives. The new orientation allows better pooling of the company's financial resources and also creates synergies in all areas. With the specific concentration on its core competence in brewing technology, Huppmann AG has laid the foundations for further expansion of its position as market leader.

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