Only a few days after “the intermediate unclear business conditions at the Oettinger Brauerei have been bindingly settled in a so-called arbitration case” (inside.beer, 5.10.2017) the new 75% majority owners of Germany’s third biggest brewing group, Ingrid Kollmar and her daughter Pia Kollmar, have sacked two leading managers
Jörg Dierig, since 2014 Chief Executive Officer in charge of marketing, sales, export and licensing business, who joined the company six years before, had to leave the company immediately.
Soon later it became also known that Chief Operating Officer Dr. Karl Liebl had also to go. He was with the company for the last 18 years meanwhile he enlarged the brewery to its current size of 9.3 million hectoliters and helped to integrate several breweries, which were bought during this time.
Both of them were said to be closely related to former owner Dirk Kollmar, who unexpectedly passed away in 2014 at the age of 50. After his death, his widow Astrid Kollmar, demanded his shares for herself and her two sons, Dennis Kollmar (born in 1994) and Kevin Kollmar (born in 2002).
Since part of shares were a donation by his mother Ingrid Kollmar, who gave the shares to his son on the condition that the shares should fall back to her in case her son should die before her, she demanded for herself and her daughter majority ownership of the company.
The widow brought the matter to court and lost the case. After an appeal the matter was settled by arbitration, in which mother and daughter got back 75% of the voting shares of the company.
Amendment dated 6.11.2017
According to an advert on the notice board of the brewery, the task as new Chief Operating Officer of Oettinger was assigned to Dr. Andreas Werner Boettger with immediate effect. Mr. Boettger was nearly 8 years head of production at Henkell & Co. Sektkellerei . Since July 2014 he held three leading positions in breweries and mineral springs before he became in February 2017 managing director of Rheinberg Kellerei , a producer of sparkling wine and part of Edeka, the largest German supermarket corporation.
