Swiss business celebrities at the center of the drama

For the Bavarian Minister of Economics Hubert Aiwanger, it is nothing less than “the second most important institution next to the Catholic Church”. The agricultural group Baywa is as much a part of the Free State as Lederhosen, Oktoberfest and FC Bayern. He supplies the farmers with pesticides, fertilizer and seeds in the spring, buys their harvest in the fall and puts a new pigsty on their farm in the winter. Founded in 1923 as the Bavarian goods brokerage of agricultural cooperatives, the agricultural dealer has risen to become one of the largest companies in Germany.

The Swiss counterpart to Baywa is Fenaco, the all-round provider for Swiss farmers, which also owns Volg and Landi. Fenaco is also sometimes accused of concentration of power and a lack of transparency, but compared to Bavaria, the Bernese agricultural wholesalers are choir boys.

While Fenaco remained true to its cooperative roots to this day, Baywa entered the financial markets. It transformed itself into a stock corporation, had its shares traded on the important stock exchanges and embarked on a brisk growth course. Baywa owns a fruit dealer in New Zealand, a Dutch grain dealer and builds turnkey wind and solar parks around the world. Some describe it as systemically relevant for southern Germany.

Classic example of Bavarian political intelligence

The size now becomes a burden. In the middle of the year, the agricultural conglomerate imploded like a house of cards. Baywa is groaning under a debt burden of 5 billion euros, and banks and major shareholders have had to inject emergency loans several times to stave off bankruptcy. Since then there has been a spectacle in Bavaria.

Because Baywa is a prime example of political intelligence. Strauss’s daughter Monika Hohlmeier and other CSU notables sit on the supervisory board; the leaders of the farmers’ association and banks are also represented there and enjoy princely royalties.

Now Swiss celebrities are also coming to appear in the Bavarian comedy stadium. Last week Baywa finally presented its half-yearly report. The shocker is a write-off of 222 million euros. Most of it falls on the energy subsidiary Baywa r. e. to.

The Swiss investment company Energy Infrastructure Partners (EIP) has held a 49 percent stake in this for three years and has four people on the supervisory board: Sulzer boss Suzanne Thoma, the former FDP councilor of states Ruedi Noser, the EIP founder Roland Dörig and another EIP manager.

 

EIP bought the Baywa subsidiary three years ago with 530 million euros. In the meantime, a large part of it has probably disappeared into thin air; the entire group is now worth less than the purchase price at the time. EIP is located on Zurich’s Paradeplatz and has invested a total of around 8 billion francs in the energy sector; Alpiq and Swissgrid are also among its investments. The investors include Swiss pension funds, with the investment in Baywa r. e. However, these should only make up a small minority.

Baywa blames a mix of falling electricity prices and rising financing costs for the value adjustments at the subsidiary. However, their problems were made worse by the fact that her mother canceled an intra-company loan without warning. In addition, as with the ailing Swiss module producer Meyer Burger, the price of solar panels has fallen due to low-cost Chinese competition. The bottom line is that Baywa r drove. e. a half-year loss of over 100 million euros. R.e. stands for Renewable Energy. English is spoken in Bavaria.

Suzanne Thoma is heavily involved at Sulzer

 

If she had known this, Sulzer boss Suzanne Thoma would hardly have been elected to the supervisory board two years ago. At that time the Baywa r. e. She was still the company’s cash cow, but now she has become a lame horse who needs a rejuvenation treatment.

Thoma is already in great demand at Sulzer; she has been CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors for two years. She justified the frowned upon double mandate with the “urgent need for action” at the Winterthur industrial group.

Does it have enough capacity to put out another trouble spot? Thoma is not involved in the restructuring of the entire company, says a Sulzer spokeswoman. “Therefore, she hasn’t had to do any significant extra work in the last few months.” It should also be a relief that her work at Sulzer is already bearing fruit. The share price has more than doubled in the last two years.

Like the other Swiss on the board of directors of Baywa r. e. Thoma can also rely on specialists from EIP who provide her with analyses. «Our supervisory board members have the support of a specialized team that works with our investments around the clock. This massively limits the amount of time required,” says EIP boss Roland Dörig.

Dörig did not want to comment on his investment company’s plans. Ruedi Noser also did not comment when asked.

Time is running for the Swiss

But the Swiss’ goal is clear: They want to have all the power at the ailing Baywa subsidiary, increase their share to 70 to 80 percent and fill the leadership with their own people. Corresponding negotiations have been ongoing since July, but the parties have not yet found each other.

The sticking point is probably the price. At Baywa, the banks have taken over power; management is now only the executive body. But the lenders are in a dilemma: They want to maximize the selling price for the shares, but at the same time they urgently need a crash to avoid bankruptcy. Time should work for the Swiss.

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