KARL STORZ decides for future-looking legal form

Tuttlingen, 08/30/2017: The family company KARL STORZ which is jointly managed by Dr. h. c. mult. Sybill Storz and Karl-Christian Storz sets the course for the future and therefore integrates the European legal form – the so called SE (Societas Europaea) – into their existing corporate structure.

The so far used company name KARL STORZ GmbH & Co. KG will be changed into KARL STORZ SE & Co. KG as the new legal company name. The KARL STORZ SE & Co. KG will remain to 100 % in the family ownership of the Family Storz. The company’s seat will also remain Tuttlingen. One of many advantages of this change in the legal form will be that the family-held company will benefit from a modern organizational structure based on European law.

As Director Dr. h. c. mult. Sybill Storz and Karl-Christian Storz will jointly manage the company and the world-wide KARL STORZ Group as they already do it by today.

The corporation will be strategically lead and supervised by a Supervisory Board which is chaired by Sybill Storz. Under her chairmanship there will be two more members in this Board – Dr. Klaus M. Irion (KARL STORZ Global Vice President Research & Technology) and Ortwin Guhl (former executive chairman of a regional bank).

“We are convinced that this step is an important milestone for the future of KARL STORZ that initiates a long-term transformation that is based on continuity. The SE is a legal form that will allow us to combine the strength of a family company with the above mentioned future-looking structure. On a European and international level the SE is well established, known and acknowledged and this will not only emphasize our international scope but will give us the flexibility to align the KARL STORZ Group towards the future market requirements”, says Dr. h. c. mult. Sybill Storz.

For employees, customers, business partners and subsidiaries this new legal form has no immediate effect that means all known and proven forms of cooperation will be continued. Karl-Christian Storz points out: “With this change of the legal form we want that all employees, customers and business partners know that also in the transition phase from the second to the third family generation we are a reliable and innovative partner that not only works on a future-looking product portfolio but also further develops and prepares the organizational structure for future challenges. Tradition and future combined with the further growing internationalization will remain the most important pillars of our business strategy.”