Leoni AG has reached an agreement with lenders, bondholders and a strategic investor on a financial-restructuring plan that will result in the business having a firmer financial base through a series of steps being taken.

Per multiple media accounts, Leoni said that it will receive a liquidity injection of €150 million and be relieved of €708 million in debts as part of the financial restructuring. The company will no longer be publicly traded. A company to be established by Austrian investor Stefan Pierer will become Leoni’s sole shareholder The official release said that the deal does not affect Leoni’s subsidiaries, suppliers, customers and employees. The financial restructuring concept will, as a result, substantially reduce Leoni’s debt, provide it with fresh liquidity and secure its financing for the coming years..

Pierer, a billionaire, is CEO of Pierer Mobility, a leading motorcycle manufacturer based in Austria. He founded the Cross holding group (now Pierer Industrie) in 1987, and is still its majority shareholder as well as a member of the supervisory board of SHW AG, an auto parts company.
Rinnerberger has many years of management experience in the automotive industry, combined with extensive re-structuring expertise. For example, he helped to shape the growth of the Magna Group over a period of years—consistently in board functions (CFO, CRO, CEO)—and successfully restructured the automotive suppliers Polytec AG and Peguform (now SMP). Rinnerberger has been a member of the Executive Board of Pierer Industrie AG since 2010. The native Austrian has been a member of the Supervisory Board of Leoni AG since May 2021 and was elected its chairman in May 2022.

Leoni’s Supervisory Board Chairman Klaus Rinnerberger will become its new chief executive following merger control clearance, the company said. He succeeds Aldo Kamper, whose contract ended on March 31. “I am looking forward to doing my part in further driving the advanced restructuring - with the collective goal of a sustainably stabilized Leoni firmly in sight,” he said.

The company said that while it has now secured the necessary support for the restructuring, implementation remains subject to clearance of merger controls and other customary approvals.