Randolf Rodenstock and his family have put up a large 6-digit amount of equity capital to transform their family-owned company from a KG with personal liability into a GmbH with limited liability. The move follows the divestiture of several non-core operations in the last few years, notably in the machinery and equipment sector. Rodenstock had planned it anyway as a mandatory step on the way to a future possible public offering, for which no date has been set.

The new Rodenstock GmbH incorporates all the business operations, the rights, the obligations and other contractual relationships, the employees and the management of the former Optische Werke G. Rodenstock KG (OWGR), including the manufacture and sale of lenses and frames. It comprises all the subsidiaries and affiliates of the former company with the exception of Rodenstock Technologie Holding, which remains with OWGR.

The Rodenstock Group had a loss last year on sales of e422 million. Total revenues declined by 14 percent, but the continuing operations in the lens and frame sector recorded a 3 percent increase.

Meanwhile, Rodenstock has taken over the distribution in Belgium, where its former distributor, Drack Co., has closed its doors. The former Belgian brand manager, Johan Vanhecke, continues to work for Rodenstock as part of a new Rodenstock Benelux operation headed up by Bart de Boer in Holland.