Executive directors will continue to run Oettinger Brewery
After the sudden death of the chief of Oettinger Brewery, Dirk Kollmar, his previous co-executive directors will continue to run the company, Sales Manager Jörg Dierig said on 7 May 2014.
The management includes Mr Dierig, Michael Mayer (human resources and finance) and Karl Liebl (engineering, purchasing , logistics) .
Mr Kollmar, who was the Managing Partner of Germany’s third largest beer company, died of a heart failure on 3 May 2014, aged 50.
The company remains wholly family-owned, Mr Dierig told media, but it was still too early to think about which other family member could join management. It is widely assumed that Mr Kollmar controlled 80 percent of the company, with his mother and sister owning the rest.
Mr Kollmar had succeeded his father Günther, who had died in 2013 aged 75. It was his father who had bought into the Oettinger brewery in the 1950s. Günther Kollmar revolutionised the German beer industry in the 1970s when he decided to distribute his budget-priced beer directly to the retailers, thus cutting out the wholesalers. In terms of volumes, the Oettinger brand is Germany’s major beer brand. Oettinger Brewery produces beers under its own label plus a host of other beers and mixes. Group turnover in 2012 was estimated to be EUR 450 million.
In 2013, Oettinger Brewery ranked third in Germany with an output of around 9.8 million hl beer behind Radeberger and AB-InBev. The company has some 1,150 employees and operates four breweries (Oettingen, Gotha, Mönchengladbach and Braunschweig.
