Both Goldbek and ABC keep staff and factories despite ‘surprising’ merger
The big news in the European greeting card market is that German card publisher Goldbek is taking over Swiss competitor A.Boss & Co (ABC) in a surprise move for the industry.
The companies made the announcement on Thursday, 30 March, of the largest merger in the DACH area, which covers Germany, Austria and Switzerland, stating the aim is to build a strong joint venture while maintaining the respective brand identities.
In the joint press release, the companies said the greeting card segment is “proving to be relatively crisis-proof” despite digitalisation the pandemic with sales figures steadily increasing.
The move allows Goldbek, one of the leading publishers of greeting cards sold on spinners in Germany, to expand its products to the high-volume “wall space market”.
Both companies have highlighted that this is not a classic takeover, Goldbek keeps its operations in Hamburg and its 75 staff there, while ABC will remain at its Schönbühl location where around 100 at are employed in creation, production, logistics and sales.
“We see this merger as a bundling of the competencies of two excellent teams,” Constantin Von Braun, co-partner of Goldbek, explained. “With ABC we have found a partner on an equal footing, who enables us to play the entire keyboard of a complex industry without losing sight of the target product – the lovingly designed, original greeting card.
“This merger will make us the uniquely-positioned champion of greeting cards and we look forward to helping shape the market in the long term.”
ABC’s owner Roxanne Eicher added: “Tradition coupled with innovation has always been important to us at ABC. That’s why it was so important to us with this entrepreneurial decision that an owner-managed and sustainable company continues our legacy – in the sense of a careful transformation process.
“Sustainability, originality, empathy – these values connect us with Goldbek and we are very pleased to have found not only one of the leading market participants in this company, but also a more than worthy heir who is socially committed to the same extent.”
Since its founding in 2011, Goldbek has sold over 200million cards with an emphasis on sustainable and 3D designs, while ABC began in 1905 and publishes 15-20million art and greeting cards annually, with its portfolio spanning over 4,000 designs. ABC has previously sold to Marcel Schurman in the US, and is also established in the German Mueller drugstore chain
Stefan Hermann, co-owner of German publisher Taurus Kunstkarten, told PG Buzz: “This is interesting news of a new cooperation in the German-Swiss card market with ABC being taken over by a competitor, which has surprised the whole industry.”
