Sulzer Burckhardt, with about 430 employees and sales for 2001 around CHF 150 million, is one of the world's largest manufacturers of reciprocating compressors. Sulzer Burck­hardt is the only supplier offering a comprehensive range of labyrinth piston compressors, process gas and hyper­compres­sors for a wide variety of applications.

Zurmont Finanz AG, financial partner of the Sulzer Burck­hardt management team, is a Swiss investment company domiciled in Rotkreuz, Zug. The company is backed mainly by HSBC Guyerzeller Bank AG, Zurich, various industrial groups and individual shareholders.

According to Valentin Vogt, current head and future CEO of Sulzer Burckhardt: “This MBO is an optimal solution both for our customers and our employees, because it ensures a high degree of continuity. Thanks to Sulzer Burckhardt's market position and clearly defined strategy, our business can prosper outside of the Sulzer Corporation in the future”.

With this management buy-out of Sulzer Burckhardt, Sulzer CEO Fred Kindle has now completed restructuring of the corporation according to plan: “I am very pleased that we have completed our divestiture plan successfully not only from the financial point of view, but also with regard to our social goals. We can now fully concentrate on operative value creation and the further expansion of our core businesses”.

The Sulzer Corporation is comprised of the four core divisions Sulzer Metco (coating technologies and services), Sulzer Turbomachinery Services, Sulzer Pumps (including services), Sulzer Chemtech (chemical process technology) and the venture division Sulzer Hexis (fuel cell systems). Order intake by these divisions in 2001 totalled CHF 1921 million (in 2000: CHF 1636 million). The restructured Sulzer Corporation now employs about 10,000 people worldwide. 

The website of Sulzer Burckhardt (now: Burckhardt Compression) can be found at http://www.burckhardtcompression.com.