Industrie: „Unternehmer warten nicht mehr“: Die Verlagerung ins Ausland ist im Mittelstand kein Tabu mehr

Düsseldorf - Paul Niederstein heads Germany's oldest company, the Coatinc Company, which was founded in 1502 as a steel-smithery. However, when it comes to investments, he now follows a dual strategy for choosing locations. Niederstein sold three smaller plants in Germany last year and has invested as much in the three larger plants over the past three years as he did in the previous decade.

He is, however, expanding his capacities in the Netherlands, Belgium, and especially in the United States. "It is not a banner flight," Niederstein asserts. Yet, the company's CEO does not anticipate that investment conditions in Germany will improve in the medium term and is not alone in this view. A survey by the opinion research institute Forsa on behalf of the restructuring consultancy FTI Andersch, which is exclusively available to the Handelsblatt, shows that German industry is increasingly investing abroad.

Fifteen percent of the surveyed companies said they relocated or planned to relocate production sites, while the figure is 31 percent for companies with revenues exceeding 100 million euros. "Entrepreneurs no longer wait for a change in the regulatory conditions," says Christian Säuberlich, FTI's head in the German-speaking region.

"They invest and carefully consider where to do so." The Handelsblatt spoke with company executives from various industries, who reported on years-long approval processes and a welcoming culture abroad but also explained why they still invest in their home locations.