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 Logo used since 2021 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| FWB: VAR1 | |
| ISIN | DE000A0TGJ55 |
| Industry | Electrical equipment |
| Predecessor | Accumulatoren-Fabrik AFA  |
| Founded | 27 December 1887; 138 years ago (1887-12-27) |
| Founder | Adolf Müller |
| Headquarters | Ellwangen, Germany |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people |
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| Products | Electrical batteries |
| Website | www |
VARTA AG (pronounced[ˈvaʁta]; German:Vertrieb, Aufladung, Reparatur transportabler Akkumulatoren,lit. 'distribution, recharging and repair of portable accumulators') is a German company manufacturingbatteries for global automotive, industrial, and consumer markets.
VARTA was founded byAdolph Müller [de] in 1887, and established in 1904 as a subsidiary ofAccumulatoren-Fabrik AFA.[1] AfterWorld War I, VARTA together with AFA was acquired by German industrialistsGünther Quandt andCarl Hermann Roderbourg.[2] AfterWorld War II, most of the VARTA shares passed from Günther Quandt to his sonHerbert Quandt. The subsidiary inEast Berlin was later occupied by theSoviet Union, and was namedBAE Batterien.
In 1977, VARTA's businesses were split up by Herbert Quandt; battery and plastics operations were retained in VARTA, but the pharmaceuticals and specialty chemical businesses were transferred to a new company calledAltana and the electrical business was spun off into a company called CEAG. Quandt left the company's shares to his children.[citation needed]
In 2002, the consumer battery activities (excludingbutton cells) were sold toRayovac. By 2006, VARTA had sold all its operating divisions, and the Quandts had sold their shares. VARTA then liquidated its remaining assets, contracts, liabilities and shareholdings, in particular the manufacture and sale of VARTA batteries, while continuing its company businesses.[citation needed] The automotive battery business was acquired byJohnson Controls, and were sold on toBrookfield Business Partners in 2018.[3] Thebutton cell andhome energy storage businesses were acquired byMontana Tech Components [de].[citation needed] In 2019, VARTA acquired its former consumer battery business back fromEnergizer.[4]
On 19 October 2017, 11.6 million shares of VARTA were floated on the stock market (Prime Standard[further explanation needed]), with an additional 1.74 M bought by underwriters (green shoe[further explanation needed]), out of a total of 38.2 M shares.[failed verification] With an issue price of€17.50 the company had a value of€668.5 million.[5][6] On 2 January 2019, American companyEnergizer took control over VARTA's consumer battery segment.[7][8] On 29 May 2019, VARTA signed an agreement to acquire the VARTA consumer batteries business for the Europe, Middle East and Africa regions (including the manufacturing and distribution facilities in Germany) from Energizer, which was completed on 2 January 2020.[9][10]
In 2020, the German- and the state ofBaden-Württemberg government gave VARTA€300 million for the construction of a production facility forelectric vehicle (EV)lithium-ion batteries, based on the "Important Projects of Common European Interest" (IPCEI) initiative, but the company decided to abandon the project two years later to cut cost. In 2023 they cut 800 jobs.[11][12]
An attack on theirIT systems in February 2024 forced production down for a month[13] and prevented the scheduledannual general meeting in May 2024, with the news resulting in a temporary exchange loss of some 8.4%.[14]
By June 2024 VARTA had accumulated debt of nearly€500 million and informed theAmtsgerichtStuttgart about a major restructuring.[11] According to press reports from July 2024, the company intended to reduce itsnominal capital to zero, which would devaluate its stock.[11] Martin Buchenau commented in theHandelsblatt in late July 2024, that while minor shareholders are destined to lose everything, major shareholderMichael Tojner [de] andPorsche are entangled in a bitter fight with creditors about who will give up how much of the money they lent to VARTA.[15] Along those lines, in August 2024 a compromise was reached: the shareholders lose their stock, the banks write off€285 million of VARTA's debt, Porsche and Tojner make a new combined investment of€60 million and become the owners of VARTA.[16] The deal was based on the 'Act on the Stabilization and Restructuring Framework for Companies' (Gesetz über den Stabilisierungs- und Restrukturierungsrahmen für Unternehmen, StaRUG) from 2021. Under the act, a majority of creditors have to agree to a restructuring plan, then approval of shareholders can be substituted by a court decision, preventing the shareholders from blocking their own sequestration.[17]
In October 2024, Germany'sFederal Cartel Office approved Porsche's acquisition of a non-controlling interest in VARTA as well as a majority of shares and sole control of V4Drive Battery, its business unit for large-format lithium-ion cells for electric cars.[18]
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