Dusseldorf Is it the beginning of the sell-out of German medium-sized companies or the rescue of the heat pump business in Germany? A political debate on this question began after the Viessmann deal became known. Above all, however, the deal reveals a lot about the energy transition.
On April 26, 2023 it became known that Viessmann intends to sell its heating division and thus also the heat pump business for eleven billion euros to the US competitor Carrier Global. The heating division accounts for 85 percent of sales in the family business – Viessmann therefore sells almost everything. Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck quickly became the focus of criticism: His push for the energy turnaround, towards greater use of heat pumps, was overtaxing German medium-sized companies.
“In fact, Viessmann has missed the heat pump trend to some extent,” says corporate finance correspondent Arno Schütze. In new buildings, builders have been relying mainly on heat pumps for years, which work in a similar way to air conditioning. Viessmann’s core competence, on the other hand, lies in burners such as oil and gas heating systems.
And the business worked. Recently, the 106-year-old family company Viessmann presented only good figures. The sales were right. Wouldn’t the company also have managed the heat pump boom? You can hear the answers to these and many other questions in the current episode of Handelsblatt Deals.
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