Forced to sell the company
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In the 1980s the outsourcing of electronic entertainment devices to especially Japan and other South-East Asian countries started. Many companies like Saba, Telefunken, Grundig and even Dual had to stop their production in Germany. There were too many competitors and the prices that were offered at the world market were too low for the devices of local manufacturers. The factory in Spaichingen of the PAPST Motoren und Co. KG was already rented out in 1991, jobs were cut back in the other factories. Not even the Joint Venture with the Japanese company MINEBEA, concerning the development and manufacturing of hard disk (HDD) spindle motors, lead to success. In 1991 IBM, PAPST’s most important costumer made a record loss in the USA and the house bank was sure that the Papst-Motoren & Co. KG would not be able to hold out against the pressure. For that reason the Bank tried to convince the owners, to sell their shareholdings and look for Partners. The Deutsche Bank threatened to cancel the company’s credit lines and thereby forced the partners to sell the firm. Would one have agreed to consider the value of the over 600 patent rights and registrations (which the Deutsche Bank refused), the equity capital would have been strengthened and the threats of the Deutsche Bank would not have been made without the basis. But without that alternative the family shareholders Günter Papst, Georg Papst and Hannelore Jung-Papst had no other choice but to sell their shareholdings.
