Thanks to Don Teach for tip to this news.  This press release was
published last week by the Austrian bank Bawag P.S.K. and published at
http://www.boesendorfer.com/index.php?menu=89&dsp=100&act=det&id=1446&lang=en

 - - -

  BAWAG PSK at final negotiation stage to sell stake in Bösendorfer
  to Yamaha - Guarantee to maintain Austrian production site

  Yamaha, the globally present leading music group, and BAWAG PSK today
  have started final negotiations on the sale of 100% of the shares in
  L. Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH subject to approval of relevant
  authorities and boards.

  Yamaha as well as BAWAG PSK are fully convinced that the combination
  of the strengths of Bösendorfer and Yamaha will bring benefits for
  the company and its employees, particularly on the basis of an agreed
  guarantee to maintain the seat, headquarters and the production of
  the company in Austria. ...

 - - -

The Times Online reported that Joseph Brodmann Pianos of Vienna had bid
about 11 million euros and felt confident they would win, but at the
last minute Yamaha raised their offer to around 14 million euros and
Brodmann capitulated.  Yamaha is understood to have added a last-minute
sweetener to its bid by assuring Bösendorfer staff that production
would remain in Austria and that the 179-year old brand would remain
untouched, the Times Online said[1].

Kimball International (Kimball Piano Co.) of Jasper, Indiana, acquired
Bösendorfer in 1966.  During the 1980s about 28 Bösendorfer pianos were
fitted with the Stahnke SE electronic recording and reproduction
system[2].

In the opinion of German Wikipedia[3], Kimball's involvement didn't
do Bösendorfer much good.  True, production was increased and many
instruments were exported to all the world, but serious management
mistakes -- too much say by the marketing-department and business
management, too little say by the piano-maker -- lead in the 1980s to
a noticeable loss in quality with simultaneously exorbitant climbing
prices for the instruments.  By the end of the 1990s the piano quality
had recovered but prices remained high.  Kimball sold Bösendorfer in
2002 and it became a wholly owned subsidiary of the banking group
BAWAG P.S.K. (of which a significant portion is owned by the Austrian
trade unions).

Then another disaster hit: in April 2006 creditors sued BAWAG for over
$1.3 billion, alleging that the bank had colluded to hide fraudulent
transactions.  BAWAG had to sell some assets.  In December, 2006, BAWAG
P.S.K. announced that "the component bodies of the Austrian Trade Union
Association resolved to sell the shares in BAWAG P.S.K. to the bidder
group led by the US investment firm Cerberus[4,5].

Now, less than one year later, Yamaha is the latest owner to face the
problems of Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik.  Old-timers in the piano trade
in Europe will hint that a good part of Bösendorfer's problem can be
attributed to the demands of entrenched trade unions.  It remains to be
seen what Yamaha can do about that.

Robbie Rhodes, MMD

Sources:
[1] http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/consumer_goods/article2943387.ece
[2] http://www.allbusiness.com/retail-trade/miscellaneous-retail-retail-stores-not/4618162-1.html
[3] http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%B6sendorfer
[4] http://www.bawagpsk.com/bawagpsk/Verkauf/Verkauf__en/Kundenbrief__en__pdf,property=Data.pdf
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAWAG_P.S.K.