Christian Dickel (left) with Christoph Kulterer © Hasslacher Group
The Hasslacher Group of Sachsenburg plans to take over Dickel-Holz of Schmallenberg/DE. The wood processing company, which has its headquarters in the Sauerland region, was founded 75 years ago by Ludwig Dickel and currently employs 30 people.
“Dickel-Holz is a medium-sized family company, which operates in the woodworking industry and has been offering quality products and services for decades. Thanks to modern technology, our production is very fast and flexible. Different types of further processing enable us to offer our customers at home and abroad a wide range of products and to meet individual customer requirements,” managing partner Christian Dickel says. “We are pleased with the takeover by the Hasslacher Group. Now, we can continue to grow and make the most of synergies. We are convinced that the company is in the right hands for successful further development.”
“For the Hasslacher Group, the acquisition of Dickel-Holz is an important step because it will help us to further expand in Germany,” Christoph Kulterer, CEO and owner of the Hasslacher Group, explains. “The location of the sawmill and adjacent structural timber plant in North Rhine-Westphalia is strategically ideal for our long-term and sustainable presence. Dickel-Holz has an excellent customer and supplier network and the company’s special products complete our portfolio.”
The takeover is currently awaiting approval by the competition authority. Christian Dickel will remain managing director for the time being and will continue to support the company in a consulting capacity.
Founded in 1948 as a carpentry company, Dickel-Holz expanded to include a sawmill in 1959. In the late 1990s, a completely new, highly automated sawmill was built on a greenfield site. In the years that followed, the premises were expanded several times, further processing, such as the production of solid structural timber (KVH), was added, and the machines were kept up to date through regular investments.
Ongoing expansion
Over the past decades, the Hasslacher Group expanded several times. In 2008, Hasslacher Norica Timber acquired Andreas Kogler’s sawmill in Liebenfels. One of the biggest takeovers in the history of the Hasslacher Group took place in 2009. As a result of the financial crisis, Holzindustrie Leitinger went bankrupt. Meanwhile, the Styrian timber company needed more lumber for its solid structural timber, planed timber and panel production than it could cut at its Preding site. By acquiring Holzindustrie Leitinger, the Hasslacher Group was able to eliminate this bottleneck in supply.
In 2010 and 2011, during the financial crisis, two more takeovers took place: the timber engineering expert Buchacher of Hermagor and the CLT production site in Stall.
In the years of 2014 and 2015, when the economy was strong, Hess Timber and Nordlam were up for sale, and the Hasslach group “struck” again.
From 2018 to 2020, Hasslacher made substantial investments in its production sites in Sachsenburg, Magdeburg and Preding. In 2020, the company announced its plans to “take a break” for two or three years, once all investment projects have been implemented. Then, the group took the following steps:
- November 2021: purchase of a 60% stake in Lau Forstservice
- August 2022: acquisition of Holzbau Hofer
- November 2022: takeover of Gemson
