The Zeitfracht owner enters the book industry

The Berlin-based family business Zeitfracht takes over the insolvent book wholesaler KNV. This deal is well received in the industry.

By: Hans-Peter-Siebenhaar,
From: handelsblatt.com,
From: 26.06.19

Vienna. The fears of publishers and bookshops about the future of Stuttgart-based book logistics company Koch, Neff und Volckmar (KNV) have been successfully ended by insolvency administrator Thomas Wahl in less than five months. As Wahl announced on Wednesday, the Berlin-based family business Zeitfracht is taking over the financially troubled book logistics group.

Jasmin Schröter, 35, is the sole owner of the Zeitfracht Group in the third generation, while her husband Wolfram Simon-Schröter, 38, manages the operational business from Berlin.

It has been agreed with the family-owned company that the Stuttgart, Erfurt and Röhta locations near Leipzig and all 1,600 jobs at the book wholesaler and book logistics company will be retained. The takeover still has to be approved by the antitrust authorities. However, the creditors' committees of the insolvent KNV have already approved the takeover by Zeitfracht.

According to a spokesperson for the Schröter family, the parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. The KNV Group not only supplies booksellers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, but is also a service provider for 300 publishers, from warehousing and distribution to invoicing and accounting.

"As an owner-managed family business, we are fully committed to books as a cultural asset. Long-term, sustainable business development is also a top priority for us," the Schröters announced via their CFO Frank Schulze. The Schröters want to expand the entire value chain of the KNV Group and are also focusing on synergies with their logistics division.

The deal has been well received in the book industry. "It is crucial for the book industry that the important logistics services that KNV provides for publishers and bookshops are secured in the long term," said Alexander Skipis, Managing Director of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association.

With the purchase of the KNV Group, the Schröter family is entering new territory. Until now, they have had no contact with the book industry. So far, Zeitfracht has invested in the logistics, aviation and real estate sectors with a total of 1,800 employees.

Schröter is considered a book lover

A new division is now being added with book wholesaling. "Zeitfracht is an ideal buyer, as the owner-managed family business with its service portfolio is a perfect fit for KNV," insolvency administrator Wahl is certain.

Zeitfracht, with an annual turnover of more than 350 million euros, was founded in 1927 in Stendal as a haulage company by Walter Schröter. In 1951, his son Horst Walter Schröter emigrated to West Berlin and set up a haulage company. Schröter, who died in 2011 at the age of 85, was one of the founders of the German Parcel Service (DPD).

The family made a fortune from the sale. He handed over his widely ramified family business to his great-niece Jasmin. The entrepreneur is considered a lover of the book medium.

The third generation has recently rapidly expanded the profitable Zeitfracht Group with investments in aviation and shipping service providers. It was only in April of this year that Zeitfracht bought the aviation company Walter from Lufthansa and now works as a service provider for the low-cost airline Eurowings.