Fritz Unterberger, the biggest car dealer in the Tyrol region; has acquired a majority stake of 70 percent in Kneissl, the small ski company in Kufstein. The remaining 30 percent is in the hands of Fritz Obholzer, an auditor and tax advisor in the city. The two local entrepreneurs have bought out in two stages the shares of three other Austrian investors – Richard Labek, Anton Pletzer and Karl Handl - who helped them to rescue the Tyrolean ski company from bankruptcy in mid-2003, staving off a takeover by a Czech ski producer.
Unterberger and Obholzer have become more involved than the others in the Kneissl operation. They both act as joint managing directors, respectively in charge of marketing and finance. Klaus Brandstätter, who began to lead the company shortly after the sale, became a consultant last June, with a 1-year contract, but he is concentrating now most of his energies on the DeeLuxe brand, which was the other property of the since disbanded Kneissl & Friends group put together by Erhard Grossnigg.
Kneissl, which now employs 60 persons in premises that still belong to Grossnigg, delivered a total of 40,000 pairs of skis in 2005, of which 22,500 were made in-house and the balance manufactured by Fischer. Sales rose by 40 percent to €6.5 million, but it remained in the red. Breakeven results are now expected in 2006 with the sale of about 65,000 pairs.
