SIG Sauer GmbH, based in Eckernförde, Germany, is to close down. According to
German media outlets, SIG Sauer GmbH’s shareholders are unwilling to invest further funds in the struggling European arm of the company.
SIG Sauer GmbH’s Managing Director, Tim Castagne, told German press that the 130 strong workforce at Eckernförde will be laid off this year and the German plant, which has been in operation since 1951, will close.
To be clear SIG Sauer GmbH is a separate entity to the US-based SIG Sauer, Inc. Both the German arm and US-based company are owned by Lüke & Ortmeier Holding Gruppe. The company also owns Swiss company
SIG SAUER AG (formerly Swiss Arms).
SIG Sauer was initially formed in 1976, with the partnership of Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft (SIG) of Switzerland and J.P. Sauer & Sohn of Germany. In the US SIG Sauer pistols were initially sold under the name SIGARMS before it was renamed SIG Sauer, Inc. in 2007.
