VARTA

VARTA AG
Aktiengesellschaft
Traded as FWB: VAR1
Industry Electrical equipment
Founded 1887 (1887)
Founder Adolf Müller
Headquarters Ellwangen, Germany
Area served
 Worldwide
Products Electrical batteries
Brands VARTA
Number of employees
 >2000
Parent Johnson Controls
Spectrum Brands
Montana Tech Components
Website varta.com
Aerial picture of the Varta Microbattery factory in Ellwangen

VARTA AG (pronounced [ˈvaʁta]; Distribution, Recharging and Repair of Portable Accumulators; German: Vertrieb, Aufladung, Reparatur Transportabler Akkumulatoren) is a German company manufacturing batteries for global automotive, industrial, and consumer markets.

History

VARTA was founded by Adolf Müller in 1887, and established in 1904 as a subsidiary of Accumulatoren-Fabrik AFA.[1] After World War I, VARTA together with AFA was acquired by German industrialist Günther Quandt and Industrialist and VARTA-CEO Dr. Carl Hermann Roderbourg.[2] After World War II, most of the VARTA shares passed from Günther Quandt to his son, Herbert Quandt. The subsidiary in East Berlin was later occupied by the Soviet Union, and was named BAE Batterien.

In 1977, VARTA AG's businesses were split up by Herbert Quandt; battery and plastics operations were retained in VARTA AG, but the pharmaceuticals and specialty chemical businesses were transferred to a new company called Altana, and the electrical business was spun off into a company called CEAG. Herbert Quandt left the company's shares to his children.

In 2002, the consumer battery activities (excluding button cells) were sold to Rayovac. The automotive battery business was acquired by Johnson Controls. The button cell and home energy storage businesses were acquired by Montana Tech Components.

By 2006, VARTA AG had sold all its operating divisions, and the Quandts had sold their shares. VARTA AG then liquidated its remaining assets, contracts, liabilities and shareholdings, in particular the manufacture and sale of VARTA batteries, while continuing its company businesses.

On 19 October 2017 shares of the VartaAG started flotation on the stock market (Prime Standard). With an emission price of 17,50 Euro the company had a value of 668,5 Mio. Euro[3][4] In January 2018, american company Energizer takes control over VARTA consumer battery segment (not a part of the VARTA AG).[5]

References

  1. ↑ "VARTA History". VARTA. Retrieved 2014. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  2. ↑ "VARTA Founder Villa Roderbourg history". Villa Roderbourg. Retrieved 2016. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  3. ↑ Varta AG − Angaben zum Unternehmen, stock exchange Frankfurt (Germany)
  4. ↑ VARTA AG beendet Angebotszeitraum vorzeitig und legt Emissionspreis bei 17,50 Euro je Aktie fest, Presse release Varta AG at dgap.de, 18 October 2017 (written in German language)
  5. ↑ Manager-Magazin.de: Energizer übernimmt Varta-Batterien
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