Peter Spuhler and Martin Haefner finally want to see snow

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An alternative to Credit Suisse is offered by two heavy metal investors who could not be more different from each other. The two, Martin Haefner (69) and Peter Spuhler (64), do not trust government guarantees and do not run away. When things get tough, they get it. Finally at Rieter, the world’s leading textile machinery manufacturer. One of these big investments is their 4 billion giant Swiss Steel.

The risk is enormous for the steel group and machinery company. For ten years, companies have not moved beyond the principle of hope. In the Rieter Annual Report 2012 it sounded like this: “Perfecting processes – reaching potential.” At Swiss Steel: “The beginning of a success story.” It’s silly that reality never follows the fast lines in the Annual Report.

The fact that the success story has been around for a long time is easy to see from the share price. It shows only one direction: down. Rieter has lost 44% in ten years, Swiss Steel even 93%. So far, these two companies haven’t been well-suited to wealth accumulation.

CS and UBS helped

However, at the beginning of April, Haefner and Spuhler followed Rieter. Haefner apparently sneaked aboard a year ago, but fell short of the reporting threshold. Now it has taken another 7 percent. Meanwhile, Spuhler rose from 26 percent to 33 percent.

This call, worth around 80 million francs, was more accidental than strategy: Spuhler had come at odds with a Rieter co-shareholder because he, as an insider, wanted to snatch a company from Rieter’s all-people buy list. After filing a criminal complaint, the discredited board finally resigned, giving Credit Suisse the task of finding a buyer for the stock block.

Spuhler bought it – but only half, because otherwise it would have to initiate a takeover offer to all Rieter shareholders. Called up afterward, UBS managed to inspire a new buyer for its other half – Martin Haefner, who has been in business with UBS for years.

An unequal duo with Haefner and Spuhler met at Rieter. Here’s the timid analyst from Lucerne with an ETH math degree, who considers himself a long-term investor and who once said in a rare interview: “I find trading very boring.” Here’s the railroad industrialist who’s more fond of getting squeaky industrial companies in motion. And there is so much to do.

At Rieter, sales are increasing and order books are full but no money is being made. Ironically, it’s the technology leader in the industry that should generate capital for the next innovations. Management failed to dominate the production and supply chain. The small operational business was neglected, and its owners were comforted by every statement of a prosperous future.

Oeterli on the alert

Even Spuhler, who has been there for 15 years, probably watched too long. After all, the CEO was recently fired and replaced by Thomas Oetterli (54). The former Schindler boss must now finally act and prove what Rieter is truly capable of. It soon had a stage for industrial wonders at ITMA, the world’s largest textile machinery exhibition, in Milan.

The famous investor duo has been working with Swiss Steel for two years, which has never been easy. Haefner wanted to reduce his share block and was looking for a third major shareholder alongside Viktor Vekselberg (66), who had industry experience like Spuhler. But shortly before the sale of the 100 million stock package was finalized, Haefner abruptly cut off negotiations with Spuhler.

Haefner was whispered by his entourage that Spuhler would become Russia’s honorary consul and therefore be assigned to the Vekselberg camp – which frightened Haefner that if he were sold to Spuhler he would stumble and be marginalized by the Vekselberg/Spuhler duo. .

After Haefner backed off, Spuhler was enraged, feeling cheated. But months later, when the fake news from the Russian consul Spuhler was unmasked, Spuhler – after secret talks with Haefner – still became a shareholder at the end of 2020. But the distrust between the two was so deep that the two representatives appointed by Spuhler to the Swiss Steel Board had to wait another year before they were finally allowed to join the board in 2022.

Look and see: Since then, there has been peace between industry leaders Haefner, Spuhler and Vekselberg, who have agreed on a maxim. He writes: We are industrialists seeking long-term goals, not traders. However, like Rieter, success comes long ago at Swiss Steel. They have a lot on their hands: the company hopes to achieve a high-margin bestseller with its premium product Green Steel, made from recycled steel and melted in an electric furnace. Something that should bring plus points to the polluting industry.

With such a variety of challenges, it’s all the more surprising how loose the cash is when it comes to paying management and the board. The steel company is reminiscent of the conditions at Credit Suisse: they always raise money, even when things go wrong. This was evident in 2022 as well: with a meager annual profit of 9.2 million francs, the company’s dignitaries paid themselves a record-breaking 10.1 million francs.

Whether the management team is really worth the money is yet to be proven to Spuhler, Haefner and all other shareholders.

Source :Blick