Mölkerei Rücker

Cognos advises Mölkerei Rücker on sale to MEGGLE Holding SE

The Rücker family is handing over its dairy operations, consisting of Rücker GmbH in Aurich and Ostsee-Molkerei Wismar, to MEGGLE Holding SE, based in Wasserburg am Inn. This move should ensure that the future of the economically-sound family-owned company remains secure. WINTERGERST provided comprehensive support and advice with all aspects of the sales process. The takeover creates one of the largest privately-owned dairy operations in Germany.

Rücker is an economically successful company and important employer at its two facilities in Aurich and Wismar. To ensure that this remains so in future, the shareholders, Klaus and Insa Rücker, decided, after undertaking an extensive strategy definition process and careful deliberation, to sell their company in order to fulfill their duty as prudent business people. They commissioned WINTERGERST Societät für Unternehmerberatung, based in Stuttgart, to search for a suitable partner.

WINTERGERST analyzed the European market and held talks with numerous dairy operations and other producers of foodstuffs. It was important for the shareholders of Rücker to find a partner that shared the values of its 135-year-old dairy operation and could strengthen the position of its operations on the North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts. Moreover, its product portfolio should be a good fit to that of Rücker.

WINTERGERST finally found such a strong partner in MEGGLE Holding SE. This traditional company founded in 1887 has a workforce of 2,600 employees and generates revenue of approximately EUR 1.4 billion which puts it on an extraordinarily solid financial footing. The acquisition of the two operations, Rücker GmbH in Aurich and Ostsee-Molkerei GmbH in Wismar, with over 600 employees and revenue of approximately EUR 500 million will create one of the largest privately-owned dairy operations in Germany. The deal was signed on 3 September 2025 and is expected to be closed before the end of the year. The antitrust office is currently reviewing the acquisition.

Rücker counts among the largest privately-owned producers of cheese in Northern Germany and is known for its specialty cheeses. It is considered a quality leader for fresh cheeses (white cheese). With this acquisition, MEGGLE is continuing along its growth trajectory and is expanding its cheese segment, a division that has taken on a strategically significant role since the acquisition of what is now MEGGLE Cheese GmbH in the year 2021.

About Rücker

Rücker, a traditional company with factories located in Aurich (Rücker GmbH) and Wismar (Ostsee-Molkerei Wismar GmbH) has been synonymous with competence in milk and cheese production in the northern German region for over 130 years. Personally managed by the owner, Klaus Rücker, the family-owned and operated company is now in its fourth generation, processing 700 million kg of milk each year, making it one of the largest privately-owned dairy operations in Germany and placing Rücker GmbH in Aurich among the top-100 companies in the state of Lower Saxony and among the top-15 companies in the region of East Frisia. Each year, fresh milk from roughly 700 farms spread along the coast is processed into 90,000 tons of cheese, 20,000 tons of butter and 20,000 tons of milk powder. RÜCKER produces innovative delicious products with a particularly modern flair. The RÜCKER brand stands for specialty products, which applies equally to its vegan product line, RÜCKER Vega Lecker Range. www.molkerei-ruecker.de

About MEGGLE

Simultaneously oriented towards expansion and dedicated to our roots – nothing has changed in the corporate philosophy since the company was founded in 1887. Founded 138 years ago by Josef Anton Meggle I. in Wasserburg am Inn as a small producer of craft cheeses, MEGGLE today counts among the major producers of branded products in the food producer and food processing industry. The Consumer Products business division produces dairy products, baked goods and plant-based products that count as both delicious foods and convenience goods. MEGGLE also produces additives for the pharmaceuticals sector and ingredients for the food-processing industry as well as top-quality dry goods, such as lactose, which it distributes via its Ingredients business division. In addition, MEGGLE produces complex spray-dried products for customers in a range of industries. The MEGGLE Group currently employs a workforce of 2,600 people worldwide. Approximately 1,700 employees work at the three factories in Germany, most of them (roughly 1,100) at the headquarters in Wasserburg am Inn. The MEGGLE Group generated revenue of approximately EUR 1.4 billion in financial year 2024. www.meggle.de

Together with WINTERGERST, we have found in MEGGLE a partner that is both a long-established family-owned company sharing similar values to our own, and one where strategy and the product portfolio complement each other well. We are confident that our company has found a good home. We are very happy that Volker Wintergerst was on hand to provide such professional assistance to us during such a radical step, one that was not so easy for us to take. Managing shareholder Klaus Rücker, the fourth generation of the family to run the Rücker dairy operation.

The acquisition of the Rücker companies is another major milestone for us. With Rücker we are gaining a very healthy operation that not only looks back on an impressive history but also possesses enormous expertise and innovative strengths in cheese and dairy processing. Together we can bundle our competencies, make investments and create the foundation for further growth,” explains Matthias Oettel, CEO of MEGGLE Holding SE. “We held talks with many major producers of foodstuffs and examined them closely to see if they were a potential match for Rücker, as a family-owned company. That MEGGLE and Rücker are such a good fit to each other pleases us immensely. Their production capacities and expertise will now be bundled which makes the operation even more efficient. For the milk suppliers, industrial partners and trading partners, the business combination creates a stable partner with a broad product portfolio. In the course of this extensive project, we were able to contribute our experience in corporate acquisitions, resolving succession issues and developing future planning scenarios, as well as our industry competence in the food sector. Volker Wintergerst, Managing Partner at Wintergerst Societät für Unternehmerberatung.

Volker Wintergerst