“Who will continue to run my company if there is no successor from the family?” This question was also asked by Heelden entrepreneur Ludger Bonnes in 2022. The sole shareholder of Deltoid GmbH, which was founded in Xanten in 1982 and had been based in the Heelden industrial area since 2004, was looking for a successor in view of his imminent retirement. The Heelden entrepreneur then found one in Erbo GmbH from Magstadt in Baden-Württemberg (north-west of Sindelfingen). Ludger Bonnes was supported in his search by the KPP tax office from Kleve.
Difficult search for a successor
Moritz Hertfelder, Hans-Jörg Boltjes, (both from Erbo GmbH) Ludger Bonnes (Deltoid GmbH) Christian Theissen, (attorney at KPP Recht) Notary Dr. Christian R. Wolf (from left) at the company handover (©Privat)
“You are attached to your life’s work and you don’t just give it away to the first person who comes along,” explained Bonnes. The search for a successor was quite difficult and lengthy after it became clear that there was no successor from the family. In order to do everything right from a technical point of view, the tax office from Kleve was brought on board with the search. “We started a Germany-wide search and I created a meaningful company exposé and other documents with which the company presented itself to interested parties. Together with René Gichtbrock from KPP, I held discussions with the prospective buyers – and finally we found the right person,” explained Ludger Bonnes. Since January 1, 2023, Erbo GmbH has been successfully running Deltoid GmbH’s business.
At the end of August it was over in Heelden
The employees taken over by the Baden-Württemberg company worked digitally networked, initially at the company’s location in Heelden and now completely from home. “This meant that the know-how and the many personal customer relationships could be retained as an important factor for the acquiring company,” said Ludger Bonnes. On August 31, the long-established location in the Heelden industrial area was finally closed. Until then, Bonnes was still on hand to offer the new owners advice – and often practical support. As Bonnes emphasizes, saying goodbye to his company was not easy for him. “The time of stopping entrepreneurship is the most difficult time of my life,” he says, but emphasizes that he feels that his company, which he ran for twenty years, is in very good hands at Erbo GmbH.
Deltoid GmbH operates worldwide
Deltoid GmbH, founded in 1982 in Xanten by Franz Ullrich and managed by Ludger Bonnes since 2004, is a globally active system provider of “pneumatic production waste management systems” in the aluminum and paper industries. The product spectrum ranges from the delivery of partial components to complete turnkey systems. Modern paper machines operate at machine speeds of up to 3,000 m/min, which means a production of 50 meters of paper per second. “In this environment, a high level of process reliability of the connected extraction systems, such as those developed by Deltoid, is of great importance,” explained the Heelden native. The business activities were carried out at the company headquarters on Dekkers Waide in Heelden. Production was taken over by various local and national companies. Ludger Bonnes also had various sales partners in several European countries and had eleven employees in Heelden.
