The sale of the Loipersdorf thermal baths, initiated a year ago, was completed today. At the final meeting of the owners’ advisory board on Friday morning, the contract was awarded to a regional group of investors associated with the operators of the Kurhaus in Bad Gleichenberg.
The ownership situation at the leading East Styrian company, which also owns a congress center and the Hotel Sonnenreich, is not easy: since the sale of the 85 percent state share in 2002, the thermal baths have been divided between four companies. Six surrounding communities are also directly involved in the thermal springs company. Fürstenfeld owns five of the twelve municipal shares, Loipersdorf four, and the municipalities of Söchau, Großwilfersdorf and Unterlamm each hold one. It was only in 2019 that the owners injected 4.1 million euros into the business through a capital increase.
Two groups in the race
The state, banks and private individuals also hold shares in the thermal baths. In the government meeting on Thursday, the state, which still owns four percent of the thermal baths company, decided on the annual financial statements for the thermal baths company.
Two potential investors are said to have been shortlisted until the end of the sales process, which was accompanied by the Deloitte agency. Finally, on Friday, the thermal baths went to a regional consortium led by the Southeast Styrians Jörg Siegel, Daniel Freimuth and Peter Hochleitner. You only took over the Kurhaus Bad Gleichenberg last year with SHR-Thermen und Hotelbeteiligungs GmbH. The entrepreneurs each share ownership with Merkur Versicherung and Granit-Holding.
New source opened up
But why is the tourism business, which directly employs around 300 people and attracts more than 550,000 visitors every year, being sold at all? According to the owners, further investments are to be made in the largest thermal bath in Styria (55,000 square meters, 35 pools), including an expansion. Drilling for a fourth thermal spring began last year. With the new investor, the future of the leading company should be secured in the long term.
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