Goba AG now under the umbrella of the F.G. Pfister Foundation
Gabriela Manser, Co-CEO and co-owner of Goba AG, is selling the company to F.G. Pfister Beteiligungen AG as part of the company's succession solution 90%. However, she will continue to serve as a member of the Executive Board and as Chairman of the Board of Directors.
She has been the face of Goba AG for years: Gabriela Manser. She has led the small mineral water producer from Gontenbad AI to new heights with the "Flauder" brand, which is now known throughout the country. Now it comes to the arrangement of the company succession. "Goba is a wonderful company and a piece of Swiss culture. We are pleased and proud to welcome Goba AG as the first company in the consumer goods sector newly under the umbrella of the F.G. Pfister Foundation," says Rudolf Obrecht, President of F.G. Pfister Beteiligungen AG, which is acquiring the shares as a company of the F.G. Pfister Foundation. F.G. Pfister Beteiligungen AG belongs to 100% of the F.G. Pfister Foundation. Together with Pfister Immobilien AG, it operates under the umbrella of F.G. Pfister Holding AG.
Goba AG: Successful SME in the beverage sector
Goba AG, Mineralquelle und Manufaktur, is one of the smallest mineral water producers in Switzerland. Gabriela Manser has been running the family business in the third generation since 1999. Under her management, as well as through exciting innovations, Goba AG has developed into a successful SME in the beverage sector. For a good five years, Manser and her entourage have been actively looking at viable succession solutions. "In the F.G. Pfister Foundation, Goba AG found the partner of choice who shares the same ecological, social and societal values. A return-oriented investor was ruled out. This step opens the next chapter in Goba's development. A traditional company and an entrepreneurial tradition preserved in a foundation are joining forces to continue writing the Goba story," says Gabriela Manser, who will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors and member of the Executive Board. She will be particularly involved as a driving force in innovation topics. The company employs 73 people and has three sites in Appenzellerland. The headquarters with the bottling plant in Gontenbad (AI), the logistics center and the manufacturing plant in Bühler (AR), and the "Flauderei" experience world in the village of Appenzell. In addition to mineral water, it is above all the Flauder line that has made Goba AG famous. The well-established Goba AG team will remain unchanged.
Partnership for long-term further development
Goba will remain Goba - and will be allowed to develop further in its own culture, according to the new owners. "A centrally organized conglomerate with huge synergies is not our goal. We believe in the efficiency and power of decentralized companies with their own corporate culture. What we can do is provide security and make our know-how and network available - if desired. The entrepreneurial freedom of the companies in which we participate is very important. The F.G. Pfister Foundation is committed to Switzerland. Our basic idea is: buy, hold, expand and develop," says Rudolf Obrecht. The expertise and large network of the companies belonging to the F.G Pfister Foundation will be able to support Goba AG in opening up new segments and markets in order to drive forward future-oriented projects. F.G. Pfister Beteiligungen AG will sit on the Board of Directors and thus see itself as a partner in the strategic development of the company.
