Family entrepreneur Andreas Müller wants to take over Hanseyachts. This was announced by the shipyard yesterday evening, after IG Metall had already reported on Friday about planned job cuts. The Aurelius Group, as the previous majority shareholder, had reached an agreement with Müller and Hanseyachts CEO Hanjo Runde on a key data paper. The key points for a takeover of the majority shares were agreed in this document. These are the basis for further negotiations on the transaction and a final purchase agreement, according to yesterday's announcement.
According to several newspaper reports, Frank Prenzlau, Managing Director of IG Metall Stralsund-Neubrandenburg, reported on Friday that the company's Executive Board had informed the Works Council at the end of last week that it intended to cut 200 jobs in the Hanseatic city alone. According to YACHT information, further jobs are apparently also on the agenda at the Polish plant.
Trade union criticises the actions of the Management Board
IG Metall accuses the management board of Hanseyachts AG of putting pressure on the works council. According to Prenzlau, the committee was supposed to agree to a so-called reconciliation of interests and a social plan "without receiving sufficient information about the economic situation and possible options for the future of the employees". Instead, the works council was "immediately threatened with possible insolvency". The trade union announced that it would fight with the works council to save the jobs at Hanseyachts AG.
According to its own information, the company, which was founded in 1990, employs 1,500 people from 20 nations at sites in Greifswald and Goleniów, Poland. Hanseyachts claims to be the world's second largest producer of sailing yachts. In the motorboat sector, the range currently comprises seven models of the Fjord brand.
Restructuring and customisation of production
Hanseyachts justifies the planned measures with global market uncertainties. Despite a strong first quarter in 2025 with sales of around EUR 41 million and an EBITDA margin of around twelve per cent, the industry is facing considerable burdens. The company cites global economic uncertainty, the weak economy in core markets such as the USA and Germany and ongoing geopolitical conflicts as the main reasons.
Only in March last year Hanseyachts AG had said goodbye to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Production will now continue at full capacity until the end of June 2025 in order to serve the current seasonal business. After that, production is to be adjusted to the sharp drop in demand in order to ensure the company's economic stability.
Change of ownership as an opportunity
CEO Hanjo Runde sees the planned change of ownership as an opportunity for sustainable development: "With family entrepreneur Andreas Müller, we would gain a partner who thinks sustainably and can support our strategy in the long term." Runde emphasises that every effort will be made to find responsible solutions together with the state, the banks and the works council.
The finalisation of the transaction is subject to further agreements, in particular an agreement with the state government of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the financing banks and the works council. Among other things, this involves the restructuring of existing liabilities. According to the company, the parties involved are currently in intensive talks on this.
