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ANDRITZ AG: The Austrian Machine That Built the World's Green Infrastructure
I. Introduction & Episode Roadmap
The year is 2025, and somewhere in Rostock, Germany, construction crews are breaking ground on a massive green hydrogen plant. In Salzgitter, Germany, another facility is rising—a 100-megawatt electrolyzer that will produce 9,000 tons of hydrogen annually for carbon-reduced steel. In Erfurt, a newly opened "Gigafactory" now produces the cell stacks that make these hydrogen plants possible. The company behind all three projects is neither a Silicon Valley disruptor nor a Chinese state giant, but an Austrian firm that traces its roots to an iron foundry established before the American Civil War.
The cornerstone of today's international technology Group ANDRITZ was laid in 1852 when a small iron foundry was set up by the Hungarian entrepreneur Josef Körösi in Andritz, a suburb of the city of Graz, Austria. From that modest beginning, Andritz has become something remarkable: an invisible giant powering the world's transition to sustainable manufacturing.
Founded in 1852 as a small iron foundry by Hungarian entrepreneur Josef Körösi, the company has grown into a diversified engineering firm with approximately 30,000 employees across more than 280 locations in over 80 countries, emphasizing sustainable innovations and the green transition in industrial processes. In fiscal year 2024, Andritz achieved revenue of €8.31 billion, with its service business—encompassing maintenance, upgrades, and operational support—accounting for 41% of total revenue.
The central question at the heart of this story: How did a near-bankrupt Austrian foundry transform into the invisible backbone of renewable energy and sustainable manufacturing worldwide?
The answer lies in three interwoven themes: serial acquisition mastery that transformed an engineering minnow into a global powerhouse; the Wolfgang Leitner era that turned strategy into religion; and a prescient positioning for the green transition that makes Andritz look visionary in hindsight.
As of December 31, 2024, the order backlog of the ANDRITZ Group amounted to 9,749.9 MEUR. The company's order backlog continued to grow, reaching €10.8 billion by the end of Q3 2025, providing a solid foundation for future revenue.
This is the story of a company that spent 170 years preparing for a moment the rest of the world is only now beginning to understand.
II. Origins: From Iron Foundry to Industrial Supplier (1852–1985)
The Founder's Gambit
Picture Graz in 1852: a provincial Austrian city, distant from the great industrial centers of the age, yet humming with the entrepreneurial energy of the Habsburg Empire's middle era. Joseph Körösi, an ironmonger from Hungary, founded a small iron foundry in the then still independent municipality of Andritz. The name "Andritz" itself would become immortalized—it derives from the Slavic term meaning "fast-flowing water," apt for a company that would later become synonymous with hydropower.
Although Körösi initially only produced small castings, the company expanded very quickly and produced water turbines, cranes and pumps. By 1860, the company already employed over 500 people, and by 1870 the number had risen to 1,300. Meanwhile, steam boilers, steam engines, mining machinery and even bridges were also manufactured.
This rapid expansion from small castings to heavy industrial equipment—turbines, cranes, bridges—revealed Körösi's instinct for vertical integration. He wasn't just making components; he was building complete solutions. This philosophy would define Andritz for the next 170 years.
After the death of the company founder in 1871, his adopted son Viktor Körösi became the owner. As a result of a general economic crisis in Austria, over 1,000 workers had to be made redundant. The first crisis revealed a pattern that would repeat: Andritz faced extinction, adapted, and emerged stronger.
The Turn of the Century: From Family Business to Corporation
In 1900, the Austrian industrialist Max von Gutmann acquired the company and transformed it into the stock corporation Maschinenfabrik Andritz Actiengesellschaft. Mechanical equipment for tunnelling became a new business segment, and cranes were also produced again.
The incorporation marked Andritz's first major ownership transition—from family enterprise to formal corporate structure. Gutmann brought capital, professionalization, and connection to the broader Austro-Hungarian industrial network. The company expanded its product lines and developed high-pressure centrifugal pumps, positioning itself as a diversified engineering firm.
Wars, Depression, and Near-Death
The twentieth century proved brutal for European industrial companies, and Andritz was no exception. In 1932, Maschinenfabrik Andritz had to temporarily cease production due to the global economic crisis. Nevertheless, the company continued as a going concern and the former employees were soon re-employed.
In 1938, after the Anschluss of Austria to the German Reich, the machine factory was incorporated into the Berlin-based Kämper Motorenwerke and focussed on the production of diesel compressors. In 1941, the factory was sold to Demag in Germany. Until the end of the Second World War, the factory mainly produced cranes and conveyor belts.
The post-war period brought reconstruction and a decisive pivot. In 1950/51, a license agreement with an Escher-Wyss subsidiary in Ravensburg, Germany, for the construction of complete paper machines lays the foundation stone for the later ANDRITZ business unit for paper and pulp. In 1950, Creditanstalt-Bankverein, Austria acquired a majority interest in ANDRITZ.
Under Creditanstalt-Bankverein, Andritz's activity involved the production of machinery under license from established European engineering firms. This was a comfortable existence—but one that would prove unsustainable when globalization intensified competition.
The Near-Death Experience
The second oil crisis in 1979/1980 and the general stagnation of the global economy at the beginning of the 1980s also hit Maschinenfabrik Andritz hard. Orders declined and the company made losses. Liquidation of the company was only prevented by massive state subsidies and rationalisation measures between 1981 and 1985. Among other things, the foundry was closed and the workforce reduced from 2,300 to 1,600.
This near-death experience stripped away complacency. The foundry that had been the company's birthright was shuttered. Over 700 workers lost their jobs. The company survived on government life support. For those who remained, the message was clear: Andritz could not continue as a comfortable, mid-sized licensee producing other companies' designs. It needed its own technology, its own markets, and a fundamentally different strategy.
In 1987, the company achieved operating profits again for the first time. In the same year, the German investment company AGIV, based in Frankfurt, acquired a majority stake in Maschinenfabrik Andritz AG. The company was strategically reorganised from a mere licensee of other machine manufacturers to a leading international supplier of high-tech production systems, independent of external know-how.
The stage was set for transformation. What Andritz needed now was a leader who could execute this new vision—someone who combined analytical rigor with entrepreneurial daring.
III. The Wolfgang Leitner Era Begins: Strategic Transformation (1987–2001)
The Turnaround Architect
His father was a metal worker at Andritz AG. In 1978, Leitner received a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Graz. After university Leitner worked in research for Vianova, an Austrian subsidiary of Hoechst AG. In 1981, he started working as a management consultant for McKinsey.
The personal biography is remarkable. Wolfgang Leitner's father worked on the factory floor of the very company his son would one day transform. Young Leitner could have followed his father into the trades, but instead pursued doctoral studies in chemistry—not the obvious preparation for running an industrial machinery company, but perhaps exactly the right training for someone who would need to analyze complex systems from first principles.
From 1981 to 1985 he worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company in Munich. The McKinsey years gave Leitner something critical: frameworks for analyzing struggling companies and templates for turnarounds. He learned to see businesses as systems to be optimized, not institutions to be preserved.
In 1986 he founded the pharmaceutical company Genericon together with his fellow Bilderberger, who later became Economics Minister, Martin Bartenstein. Their Hungarian subsidiary Pharmavit had great success with carbon tablets and generic drugs and was bought in 1995 by the US pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb for 110 million dollars.
This entrepreneurial detour is often overlooked in Leitner biographies, but it's crucial for understanding his approach at Andritz. He wasn't just a consultant playing with other people's money—he had built and sold a business for a nine-figure exit. He knew how to create value, not just analyze it.
Leitner joined Andritz AG as chief financial officer in 1987. In 1994, he became chief executive officer. At the same time, Leitner had been CFO since 1987 and CEO from 1994 of Andritz AG, an Austrian plant engineering company.
His appointment as CFO coincided with AGIV's acquisition of a majority stake. The new owners needed someone who could implement the strategic reorganization they envisioned. Leitner, with his McKinsey training, chemistry doctorate, and entrepreneurial track record, was the perfect choice.
The Acquisition Philosophy Takes Shape
In 1987, Andritz began to change its strategic direction, from being a licensee of other equipment manufacturers to become a leading international supplier of its own high-tech production systems. In 1990, the acquisition of Sprout-Bauer, a US company supplying equipment for mechanical pulp and animal feed production, marked the beginning of the group's expansion policy through acquisitions.
The Sprout-Bauer deal deserves careful examination because it established the template for everything that followed. The company's first expansion came in 1990, with the acquisition of Sprout-Bauer, based in Muncy, Pennsylvania. Sprout-Bauer had been formed in 1986 through the merger of two companies that traced their roots to the late 19th century. The acquisition of Sprout-Bauer by Andritz not only extended Andritz's pulp systems operations, as well as its environmental technologies division, notably with Sprout-Bauer's line of screening and seizing equipment, but also gave Andritz an entry into the mechanical feed production market.
Notice what Leitner was doing: not acquiring competitors, but acquiring complementary technologies that could be bundled with existing offerings. A customer buying pulp equipment from Andritz could now also buy feed production systems. Cross-selling became the engine of organic growth, while acquisitions provided the product portfolio expansion.
With the purchase of Sprout-Bauer, the Andritz Group expanded its portfolio to include refiners and plants for animal feed production. Durametal Corporation from Oregon (USA), a manufacturer of refiner plates, was acquired in 1992, Kone Wood, a supplier of woodyard equipment for the pulp industry, in 1994 and Jesma-Matador A/S from Denmark for the animal feed sector in 1995.
Andritz turned to Finland, one of Europe's major forestry markets, in 1994, acquiring the Kone Wood Group. Finland's importance to the global pulp and paper industry made this acquisition strategically vital—it gave Andritz credibility in one of the industry's heartlands.
At the beginning of 1998, Andritz acquired a majority stake in Sundwiger Eisenhütte Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co. (now Andritz Sundwig), based in Hemer (North Rhine-Westphalia), and in 2000 a half share in the Ahlström Machinery Group, Finland.
The Ahlstrom acquisition was transformational. In March 2000, the company acquired a 50 percent stake in Finland's Ahlstrom Machinery Group from the A. Ahlstrom Corporation, a manufacturer of chemical pulp plants and other pulp processing machinery. As part of the purchase agreement, Andritz also received the option of purchasing full control of Ahlstrom Machinery in the event of Andritz going public. The Ahlstrom acquisition helped boost Andritz's sales past the EUR 1 billion mark, and also cemented the company's worldwide leadership in a variety of pulp and paper processing machinery categories.
The Buyout and IPO
In 1999, when Andritz AG was sold, Leitner acquired a 26 percent stake. In 1999, 'AGIV' sold its stake to a consortium consisting of the Carlyle Group, GE Capital, Unternehmensinvest AG, Deutsche Beteiligungs AG and the Custos Private Foundation founded by Wolfgang Leitner.
This was the pivotal moment. Leitner didn't just watch the ownership change—he led a consortium that included himself. The Custos Private Foundation, which he controlled, gave him a 26% stake. He wasn't hired help anymore; he was owner-operator. His incentives were now perfectly aligned with long-term value creation.
The ANDRITZ share has been traded officially on the Vienna Stock Exchange since June 25, 2001. It is part of the ATX, the leading index of the Vienna Stock Exchange, and is weighted there at around 8%.
Through this successful placement we have achieved our goal of increasing the free float substantially from 15% after the IPO in 2001 to over 60% now and have completed the transformation of Andritz into a public company which began three years ago with the help of the group of financial investors.
The IPO wasn't just about liquidity—it gave Andritz the currency for acquisitions and the visibility to attract top talent. Following the IPO, Andritz made good on completing its acquisition of full control of Andritz-Ahlstrom, buying up the rest of that subsidiary in July 2001. This was one of the largest acquisitions Andritz has made, and it made Andritz a globally leading supplier of pulp production systems.
Under his guidance, Andritz's sales skyrocketed from €194 million to over €4 billion within two decades. The transformation was underway, but the most consequential moves were still to come.
IV. Inflection Point #1: VA Tech Hydro Acquisition – Becoming a Hydropower Giant (2006)
The European Commission Creates an Opportunity
In 2005, Siemens AG announced plans to acquire VA Technologie AG, an Austrian conglomerate with substantial operations in hydropower. The European Commission reviewed the merger and identified competition concerns in the hydropower equipment market. The solution: force Siemens to divest VA Tech's hydropower division.
Another large acquisition of Andritz was the purchase of the hydroelectric power division of VA Technologie in 2006, as a consequence of a decision of the European Commission in the acquisition of VA Technologie by Siemens. Experts estimated the price at €200 million. The VA Tech Hydro unit changed its name to Andritz VA Tech Hydro GmbH and became a subsidiary of Andritz AG. With 3,000 employees and sales of €620 million, the unit increased the size of Andritz by one third, becoming the company's second-largest business.
Consider the numbers: for €200 million, Andritz acquired a business generating €620 million in annual revenue with 3,000 employees. The deal represented roughly 0.3x revenue—an astonishing bargain for a market-leading hydropower equipment supplier. This wasn't just opportunistic; it was transformational.
In 2006, with the acquisition of VA TECH HYDRO, Andritz advanced to a globally leading supplier of electromechanical equipment for hydropower plants.
Building the Hydropower Empire
Leitner didn't stop with VA Tech Hydro. In May and June 2008, Andritz acquired hydropower technology and certain assets of GE Energy's hydropower business (including test laboratories in Canada and Brazil), as well as GE Energy's majority interest in the joint venture GE Hydro Inepar do Brasil. Since January 2009, all these acquisitions now operate under "Andritz Hydro" name.
Having acquired VA TECH HYDRO in 2006, ANDRITZ was also interested in gaining technological benefits and additional market presence through the takeover of GE Hydro. GE Hydro in Canada has long enjoyed a global reputation as a manufacturer of hydropower turbines and generators.
Andritz Hydro ranks among the 3 largest hydro companies (with Alstom and Voith-Siemens) with historical references back from 19th century.
The hydropower strategy crystallized a renewable energy thesis years before "ESG" became Wall Street's favorite acronym. Hydropower provided reliable, dispatchable, zero-carbon electricity—the backbone of any serious clean energy system. While competitors chased more glamorous technologies, Andritz was quietly assembling the world's most complete portfolio of hydropower equipment and services.
Based on 185 years of experience and a global installed capacity of 489 gigawatts, we offer innovative solutions for new and existing hydropower stations, from small hydropower to large-scale plants.
The installed base mattered enormously. Every turbine Andritz sold became an annuity of service revenue—maintenance, upgrades, spare parts, digital monitoring. This "razor and blade" model would become central to Andritz's strategy across all business areas.
V. Inflection Point #2: The Schuler Acquisition – Transforming the Metals Business (2012–2013)
A Different Kind of Deal
If the VA Tech Hydro acquisition was opportunistic—swooping in on regulatory-mandated divestiture—the Schuler acquisition was strategic and contested.
When the public float portion fell below 10% in 2012, Schuler fell off the SDAX share index. In May 2012, Austrian company Andritz AG acquired 38.5% of the shares in Schuler AG from the Schuler-Voith family, and made the shareholders an offer of €20 per share.
The offer thus represents a premium of 26.34% over the XETRA closing price for Schuler shares on May 28, 2012 (15.83 EUR) and 35.32% over the volume-weighted average XETRA price of the share in the past three months. Enforcement of the acquisition of Schuler-Beteiligungen GmbH's block of shares as well as the takeover offer are exclusively contingent upon approval of both transactions by the anti-trust authorities.
The ANDRITZ GROUP has a net cash position of approximately 1.3 billion Euros as of the end of March 2012 and is thus able to acquire Schuler AG out of its own financial resources.
This detail is crucial: Andritz didn't need to raise debt or equity for the deal. The company had accumulated €1.3 billion in cash through disciplined operations and prudent capital management. When opportunity knocked, Andritz had the firepower to answer.
On 15 October 2012, the European Commission unconditionally cleared the acquisition of the German press manufacturer Schuler AG by the Austrian technology group ANDRITZ after a Phase I investigation.
Andritz Schuler GmbH is a German company headquartered in Göppingen, Baden-Württemberg which operates in the field of forming technology and is the world's largest manufacturer of presses. The presses are used to create car body sheets and other car parts as well as items such as beverage and aerosol cans, coins, sinks, large pipes, and parts for electric motors. The company has production sites in Germany, Switzerland, Brazil, USA and China.
Integration Challenges and Strategic Rationale
The Schuler integration was not seamless. The company's heavy exposure to automotive—approximately 77% of business as of 2018—created cyclical volatility that contrasted with Andritz's steadier infrastructure-oriented businesses. Early years brought integration challenges that pressured dividends.
But the strategic rationale proved sound over time. Schuler provided:
- Global market leadership in metal forming with approximately 35% market share
- Complementary technology that expanded Andritz's offering beyond strip processing
- Automotive relationships that positioned Andritz for electric vehicle production equipment
- Manufacturing footprint in key markets including China
In 2025, Schuler announced that it will operate under the name Andritz Schuler in future. In March 2025, the company was officially renamed ANDRITZ Schuler to enhance transparency and reflect its deeper alignment with the parent group's integrated solutions strategy.
The full integration—more than a decade after acquisition—signals confidence that the strategic bet has paid off. The Schuler brand has been subsumed into the ANDRITZ identity.
The Battery Pivot
The most consequential development from the Schuler acquisition may be the pivot toward battery production equipment. As automakers race to electrify, demand for battery manufacturing equipment has exploded. Andritz now offers solutions across the entire battery production value chain—from raw material processing to recycling.
The new Gigafactory is located on a site with a long-standing history of industrial manufacturing, where ANDRITZ Schuler has been producing presses for many years.
The electrolyzer gigafactory in Erfurt—built on a Schuler manufacturing site—represents the convergence of Andritz's green hydrogen ambitions with its metals/forming manufacturing capabilities. The acquisition that once seemed focused on automotive body panels has become a platform for the energy transition.
VI. The Acquisition Playbook: Building a Tech Empire Through M&A (2010–2023)
The Philosophy of "Complementary" Acquisitions
"We have successfully concluded more than 60 acquisitions and we are always looking for complementary product lines – ANDRITZ never acquires a competitor."
This distinction matters enormously. When a company acquires competitors, it pays for market share, often at premium valuations justified by "synergies" (usually code for layoffs). When a company acquires complementary businesses, it pays for capabilities that expand what it can offer customers.
Andritz AG has pursued a strategy of complementary acquisitions since the 1990s to expand its technological capabilities and market positions in core segments. By 2024, the company had integrated over 60 acquisitions, focusing on opportunistic, value-oriented deals typically at 5-8x EV/EBITDA multiples since 2018.
The valuation discipline is notable: 5-8x EV/EBITDA for technology-rich businesses with proprietary know-how. This contrasts sharply with software or high-growth acquisitions that routinely command 15-30x multiples. Andritz's targets are mature, profitable businesses with defensible market positions—not speculative bets.
The Post-2010 Acceleration
With the acquisition of AE&E Austria at the beginning of 2011, Andritz is able to further strengthen its offering in the fields of power generation (steam boiler systems) and environmental technology (flue gas cleaning systems).
In 2018, the acquisition of Diatec completed the portfolio in hygiene papers, and Andritz also acquired Xerium Technologies a global manufacturer and supplier of machine clothing (forming fabrics, press felts, drying fabrics and roll covers for paper, tissue, and board machines) in 2018. In 2021, Andritz acquired Laroche, a supplier of fiber processing technologies, and parts of Air Quality Control System (AQCS) business from GE Steam Power.
More recent acquisitions show the strategy evolving toward digitalization and environmental solutions. In 2023 alone, Andritz added Dan-Web Machinery (Denmark) for nonwovens, SciTech Service (Finland) for process research, NAF (Sweden) for pulp and paper industry valves, Dedert (USA) for dewatering and drying solutions, and Imagine That (USA) for simulation software.
In February 2025, ANDRITZ acquired LDX Solutions, a leading provider of emission reduction technologies and related services in the North American industrial market, further strengthening the group's offering of environmental technologies and its presence in the US market. LDX Solutions will be reported in the Environment & Energy business area.
The company completed four major acquisitions in the first half of 2025: LDX (USA) in the Environment & Energy segment with annual revenue of approximately $100 million; A. Celli Paper (Italy) in the Pulp & Paper segment with annual revenue of approximately €70 million; Diamond Power (USA) in the Pulp & Paper segment with annual revenue of approximately €100 million.
The pace has accelerated even as the company has grown larger. This suggests Andritz sees continued fragmentation in its end markets and ongoing opportunity to consolidate specialized capabilities.
VII. Inflection Point #3: The Green Transition & Environment & Energy Pivot (2019–Present)
Reorganizing for the Energy Transition
The Hydro business area was renamed to Hydropower and the Separation business area to Environment & Energy. The Clean Air Technologies division (formerly part of the Pulp & Paper business area) and the Green Hydrogen division (formerly part of the Metals business area) are reported in the Environment & Energy business area.
This reorganization wasn't mere housekeeping. By creating a dedicated Environment & Energy segment and moving green hydrogen from Metals (where it had resided due to electrolyzer manufacturing) to its new home, Andritz signaled that sustainability was no longer a departmental concern but a strategic pillar.
Green Hydrogen: From Concept to Gigafactory
In the presence of Thuringia's Prime Minister Mario Voigt, ANDRITZ has opened its new Electrolyzer Gigafactory in Erfurt, Germany. The new facility has an initial annual production capacity of approximately one gigawatt which corresponds to approximately 160 to 200 electrolyzers per year. At the site, key components for green hydrogen production have already been produced since March 2025, including electrolyzer cell stacks and phase separators.
One gigawatt of annual production capacity. That's enough to supply multiple large-scale hydrogen projects simultaneously. The manufacturing investment demonstrates conviction—Andritz isn't licensing electrolyzer technology or partnering cautiously; it's building production facilities capable of serving Europe's hydrogen infrastructure buildout.
On February 12, the cornerstone was laid for one of the largest production plants for green hydrogen in the whole of Europe. Starting from 2026, the plant will generate around 9,000 tons of green hydrogen a year to be used for the production of carbon-reduced steel. This will mark the start of the industrial use of hydrogen in SALCOS® - Salzgitter Low CO2 Steelmaking.
Subject to the investment decision planned for mid-2025, REPCO intends to give ANDRITZ the notice to proceed with the supply of the plant. It will be one of the first plants in Germany to supply the German "Hydrogen Core Network" and the future European Hydrogen Backbone infrastructure.
This is the second order for ANDRITZ related to the supply of a 100 MW green hydrogen plant to Germany.
Environment & Energy Performance
The EBITA margin in the Environment & Energy business area at 11.3% again reached a very favourable level and was slightly below the high reference figure for the previous year.
An 11.3% EBITA margin exceeds the group average and suggests strong pricing power and operational efficiency in the sustainability-focused segment. This isn't philanthropic greenwashing—it's profitable growth in markets aligned with global decarbonization imperatives.
The Metris Digital Platform
ANDRITZ has decided to pool its many years of experience in the plant business to develop smart, attractive and seamlessly integrated solutions for existing and new plants under the brand Metris. Distributed control system, Motors & drives, Automation, Electrification, Instrumentation.
The ANDRITZ digital technologies combined under the Metris technology brand reflect the very latest state of the art in the IIoT/Industry 4.0 sector and provide comprehensive support to customers. Metris products help customers achieve their production and corporate goals in terms of increasing the efficiency and profitability of plants, optimizing the use of resources, avoiding breaks in production, and achieving highest product quality.
The Metris All-in-One digitalization platform provides full support for industrial plants throughout their entire life cycle. It combines a complete set of functionalities for professional production management, simulation and optimization using the latest artificial intelligence methods, plus cyber security and condition monitoring with smart sensors in an integrated approach.
The digital platform strategy serves two purposes: it deepens customer relationships through ongoing service contracts, and it creates switching costs that make installed equipment stickier. A customer running their plant on Metris optimization software has strong reasons to buy Andritz equipment when expansion or replacement needs arise.
VIII. Leadership Transition: From Leitner to Schönbeck (2022)
Succession Planning Done Right
In July 2021, Joachim Schönbeck was appointed as Leitner's successor as CEO of Andritz AG starting in April 2022. Leitner subsequently moved to the supervisory board.
Joachim Schönbeck has taken over as CEO from Wolfgang Leitner, who successfully led ANDRITZ for the past 28 years as President and CEO. After holding various management positions at Mannesmann, Siemens, and the SMS Group, Joachim Schönbeck started his career at ANDRITZ in 2014. He has been a member of the Executive Board for more than eight years and significantly developed the Pulp & Paper Capital as well as Metals Processing segments.
With a background in mechanical engineering and a career that has always been "close to the machinery business", Mr. Schönbeck takes over at a critical time of global challenges as well as a new era of exciting opportunities.
The transition embodied best practices in founder succession. Schönbeck wasn't an outsider parachuted in—he had spent eight years on the executive board, deeply understanding Andritz's culture and operations. Leitner didn't disappear—he moved to the supervisory board, providing continuity while giving his successor room to lead.
Recently elected as Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Andritz AG, he continues to play a pivotal role in shaping the company's strategic direction.
Leitner made the 2024 Forbes Billionaires List with an estimated wealth of US$ 2.7 billion, the sixth richest in Austria and 1238th richest person in the world.
The wealth creation is remarkable—from a metal worker's son in provincial Austria to billionaire industrialist. Leitner's 26% stake, acquired in 1999, multiplied enormously as Andritz's market capitalization grew from post-IPO levels to today's valuation.
IX. Current Business Model Deep-Dive: The Four Pillars
Pulp & Paper: The Foundation
Andritz's original transformation began in pulp and paper, and the segment remains central to the company's identity. The business provides technologies and services for producing pulp, paper, tissue, and board—including automation, recycling, and decarbonization solutions.
The segment exemplifies Andritz's full-line strategy: from woodyard equipment (acquired through Kone Wood in 1994) through chemical pulping (Ahlstrom Machinery, 2000) to finished paper products and machine clothing (Xerium, 2018). A customer building a greenfield pulp mill can source virtually every major system from Andritz.
Metals: The Automotive Gateway
The Metals segment provides equipment and turnkey lines for metals processing and forming, serving industries including automotive, steel, and battery manufacturing. The Schuler acquisition dominates this segment, providing global leadership in metal forming presses.
The battery manufacturing pivot transforms what could be a cyclically challenged automotive-dependent business into a growth platform aligned with electrification trends.
Hydropower: The Renewable Backbone
Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB), Mozambique's leading hydropower generation company, has awarded ANDRITZ a contract for the rehabilitation of the Cahora Bassa hydropower plant. It is the largest hydropower plant in Mozambique and one of the largest in Africa. The order value for ANDRITZ is in the mid three-digit million-euro range. It was included in ANDRITZ's order intake for the fourth quarter of 2024. Commissioned in 1975, the 2,075 MW plant on the Zambezi River supplies more than half of Mozambique's electricity.
This recent order exemplifies the service/rehabilitation opportunity in hydropower. Plants commissioned decades ago need modernization—new generators, improved turbines, digital control systems. The capacity of the turbines will be increased by more than 4% to 433 MW per unit. Upgrading a 50-year-old facility to produce 4%+ more power from the same water flow represents pure value creation for the customer and high-margin work for Andritz.
Environment & Energy: The Growth Engine
The newest segment combines green hydrogen electrolyzers, renewable fuels, carbon capture, air pollution control, separation technologies, and feed/biofuel equipment. It represents Andritz's clearest bet on sustainability-driven growth.
Significant growth was observed in the Hydropower (+7%) and Environment & Energy (+8%) sectors.
The Service Revenue Story
Fueled by ANDRITZ's strong focus on its Service business, Service revenue continued to grow across all business areas, increasing to 41% (2023: 38%) of total revenue.
The service revenue share reached an all-time high of 44% in H1 2025, up from 40% in H1 2024, contributing to stable profitability despite revenue challenges.
The shift toward service revenue is perhaps the most important transformation in Andritz's business model. Service revenue is more stable than capital equipment sales (less project-dependent), more profitable (higher margins on maintenance and upgrades), and more predictable (contractual relationships with existing customers). At 44% and climbing, Andritz is transitioning from a capital equipment supplier with service capabilities to a service business that also sells new equipment.
X. Financial Performance & Recent Results (2023–2025)
2023: The Record Year
In 2023, Andritz achieved the best results in its history. Revenue reached €8.7 billion (up 15% from 2022), net income rose to €504 million (+25%), and EBITA reached €742 million (+14%).
2024: Consolidation Amid Headwinds
The Group's revenue, at 8.31 billion EUR, fell just short of the 2023 record high (-4%).
The operational profitability (comparable EBITA margin) increased from 8.7% in 2023 to 8.9% in 2024 due to the positive shift in revenue mix coupled with improved project execution. Net income (including non-controlling interests) remained stable and reached the second-highest level in the company's history with 496.5 MEUR (-1.5% compared to 2023: 504.3 MEUR). The net income margin reached a record high of 6.0% (2023: 5.8%).
The 2024 results demonstrate resilience. Despite revenue decline, margin improvement and mix shift toward services enabled near-record profitability. Management proactively addressed capacity—the provisions for restructuring that impacted reported EBITA suggest willingness to right-size operations rather than hope for recovery.
A dividend increase to 2.60 EUR per share was proposed, subject to approval.
2025: Order Momentum Returns
International technology group ANDRITZ achieved strong order growth during the first quarter of 2025, with order intake increasing by almost 20% compared to the first quarter of 2024. While order intake increased and profitability (comparable EBITA margin) remained stable at 8.2%, revenue declined by 6%.
Andritz AG reported robust financial performance for the first nine months of 2025, with order intake reaching €6.9 billion, up 20% from €5.7 billion in the same period of 2024. The company's order backlog continued to grow, reaching €10.8 billion by the end of Q3 2025.
The divergence between order intake (+20%) and revenue (-8%) in 2025 creates a classic "building backlog" situation. The order backlog increased by 15% year-over-year to €10.8 billion, providing strong visibility for future revenue. This backlog provides visibility into future periods and suggests revenue acceleration once current orders convert to deliveries.
2027 Targets
Andritz has set a revenue guidance of 8.0 to 8.3 billion euros for 2025, with a comparable EBITDA margin target of 8.6% to 9%. Looking ahead to 2027, the company aims for revenue between 9 and 10 billion euros, with a margin exceeding 9%.
The 2027 targets imply roughly 10-20% revenue growth over 2025 levels with meaningful margin expansion. Given the backlog trajectory and green transition tailwinds, these targets appear achievable absent severe macro deterioration.
XI. Competitive Position and Strategic Analysis
Porter's Five Forces Assessment
Threat of New Entrants: LOW Building capability in hydropower equipment, pulp mill systems, or metal forming presses requires decades of accumulated engineering knowledge, extensive reference installations, and massive capital investment. Andritz's 170+ year history, 489 GW of installed hydropower capacity, and relationships with paper mills worldwide create barriers that new entrants cannot easily replicate.
Supplier Power: MODERATE Andritz requires specialized steel, electrical components, and skilled engineering labor. While no single supplier dominates, labor markets for experienced engineers in traditional industries remain tight. Vertical integration (such as manufacturing electrolyzer stacks in-house) mitigates some supplier dependency.
Buyer Power: MODERATE Andritz's customers include major utilities, paper companies, and steel producers—sophisticated buyers who negotiate aggressively. However, the switching costs embedded in service relationships, digital platforms (Metris), and proprietary equipment designs limit buyer leverage after initial purchase decisions.
Threat of Substitutes: LOW-MODERATE In hydropower, there's no substitute for turbines—wind and solar complement but don't replace dispatchable hydro generation. In pulp and paper, while demand may shift among product types (more packaging, less printing paper), the need for production equipment persists. Battery electric vehicles partially substitute for internal combustion (affecting Schuler's automotive press business), but Andritz has pivoted toward battery manufacturing equipment.
Competitive Rivalry: MODERATE-HIGH Key rivals include Voith Group, GE Renewable Energy, Siemens, and Alstom. They compete directly in supplying electromechanical equipment for hydropower plants. In pulp and paper, major competitors are Valmet Corporation and Metso.
Andritz noted in a company presentation that Alstom is one its two main competitors in hydro; the other is Voith.
The competitive landscape features strong, well-capitalized rivals. Andritz's advantage lies in its diversification across multiple segments (reducing dependence on any single competitive arena) and its acquisition-driven expansion into niches where it can achieve leadership positions.
Hamilton Helmer's 7 Powers Framework
Scale Economies: PRESENT Andritz's manufacturing footprint across 280 locations enables production optimization and local market access that smaller competitors cannot match. The Erfurt Gigafactory for electrolyzers represents a bet on scale advantages in an emerging market.
Network Effects: LIMITED Unlike software platforms, industrial equipment doesn't exhibit strong network effects. However, the Metris digital platform creates modest switching costs as customers integrate their operations with Andritz's optimization tools.
Counter-Positioning: PRESENT Andritz's commitment to green hydrogen electrolyzers and renewable energy equipment represents a positioning that legacy fossil fuel-focused equipment suppliers may struggle to replicate without cannibalizing existing businesses.
Switching Costs: PRESENT Service relationships, proprietary spare parts, and digital platform integration create meaningful switching costs. A paper mill running Andritz equipment with Metris optimization has strong reasons to source future equipment and services from Andritz.
Branding: MODERATE In industrial B2B markets, brand matters less than reference installations and technical capability. However, Andritz's 170-year history and leadership positions in hydropower and pulp equipment provide reputation advantages.
Cornered Resource: LIMITED Engineering talent is mobile, and manufacturing processes can be replicated. Andritz doesn't possess truly cornered resources, though its accumulated intellectual property and reference installations represent difficult-to-replicate advantages.
Process Power: PRESENT The acquisition integration capability—60+ deals successfully absorbed—represents genuine process power. Many industrial companies struggle with acquisitions; Andritz has made them a core competency.
XII. Bull Case, Bear Case, and Key Risks
The Bull Case
Energy transition tailwind: Global decarbonization requires massive investment in hydropower rehabilitation, green hydrogen infrastructure, and sustainable manufacturing equipment. Andritz is positioned across all these vectors.
Service revenue expansion: At 44% of revenue and climbing, the service business provides stability and higher margins. Each equipment sale creates a long-tail annuity of maintenance revenue.
Order backlog visibility: With €10.8 billion in backlog (roughly 1.3x annual revenue), Andritz has unusual visibility into future periods. This de-risks near-term execution while orders convert to deliveries.
Acquisition optionality: With proven integration capabilities and strong cash generation, Andritz can continue consolidating fragmented end markets. The €1.3 billion cash hoard that funded Schuler has been replenished multiple times.
Leadership continuity: The Leitner-to-Schönbeck transition preserved institutional knowledge while bringing fresh perspectives. Leitner's supervisory board role provides strategic continuity.
The Bear Case
Automotive exposure: Through Schuler, Andritz remains significantly exposed to automotive capital spending cycles. While battery equipment provides a hedge, a sharp auto industry downturn would pressure Metals segment results.
Hydrogen market uncertainty: Green hydrogen remains expensive compared to gray hydrogen (from natural gas). If policy support weakens or technology alternatives emerge (e.g., direct electrification), Andritz's hydrogen investments could underperform.
Cyclical capital goods: Despite service growth, Andritz remains fundamentally a capital goods company. Recessions defer equipment purchases, and Andritz's relatively short (12-month) conversion of backlog provides limited buffer against demand collapse.
Margin compression risk: At ~8-9% EBITA margins, Andritz operates with less cushion than software companies. Rising raw material costs, labor inflation, or pricing pressure from competitors could squeeze profitability.
Geographic concentration: Heavy European exposure creates currency translation risk and political/regulatory dependency on EU policies.
Key Risks and Regulatory Considerations
Tariff and trade policy: Industrial equipment crosses borders frequently. Escalating trade tensions could disrupt supply chains or disadvantage Andritz in certain markets.
Environmental liability: As a supplier to heavy industry, Andritz could face reputational or legal risk if customers' operations cause environmental damage.
Large project execution: Multi-hundred-million euro contracts like Cahora Bassa carry execution risk. Cost overruns or delays could turn profitable contracts into loss-makers.
Technology disruption: While Andritz has adapted successfully to digitalization and energy transition, technological discontinuities could render equipment portfolios less competitive.
XIII. Key Performance Indicators for Investors
For long-term investors monitoring Andritz, three KPIs merit particular attention:
1. Service Revenue as Percentage of Total Revenue Currently at 44% (H1 2025), this metric captures the transformation from project-dependent equipment supplier to recurring-revenue service provider. Each percentage point increase represents more stable, higher-margin revenue. Investors should watch for continued progression toward 50%+ over coming years.
2. Order Backlog and Book-to-Bill Ratio The €10.8 billion backlog provides roughly 1.3 years of revenue visibility. A book-to-bill ratio above 1.0 indicates orders arriving faster than revenue depletes backlog—growth momentum. This represents the third consecutive quarter with a book-to-bill ratio above 1, indicating continued growth momentum. Below 1.0 signals contraction ahead.
3. Environment & Energy Segment Growth and Margin As the clearest sustainability play within Andritz, E&E segment performance signals whether the green transition thesis is materializing. At 11.3% EBITA margins (above group average) and +8% order growth in 2024, the segment demonstrates profitable growth in target markets. Deceleration here would raise questions about Andritz's positioning for energy transition.
XIV. Conclusion: The Quiet Giant
There's a peculiar tendency in financial markets to celebrate the new and overlook the old. Andritz doesn't issue breathless press releases about "disruption" or host splashy product launches. It builds turbines that spin for fifty years and paper machines that run around the clock. It acquires specialized engineering companies in transactions that barely make the business press.
Yet this 173-year-old Austrian firm has quietly positioned itself at the center of multiple massive structural trends: hydropower rehabilitation as the world demands more renewable energy; green hydrogen as heavy industry seeks decarbonization pathways; sustainable manufacturing as circular economy principles reshape production.
The Wolfgang Leitner transformation—from near-bankrupt licensee to global technology leader—represents one of Europe's least-discussed industrial success stories. Over 28 years, Leitner grew revenue from €194 million to over €8 billion through disciplined acquisitions, organic innovation, and relentless focus on technological leadership.
The succession to Joachim Schönbeck preserves this trajectory while adapting to new challenges. The reorganization into four business areas, the opening of the Erfurt Gigafactory, the Cahora Bassa contract—all signal a company that continues to execute on long-term strategy rather than chasing short-term trends.
For investors seeking exposure to the energy transition, industrial infrastructure renewal, and sustainable manufacturing without the valuation premiums attached to more glamorous plays, Andritz deserves attention. The company won't double in a quarter or make headlines with bold promises. But it may continue doing what it has done for 170 years: adapt, acquire, execute, and compound.
The Austrian machine keeps building the world's green infrastructure. The question is whether the market will notice.
Company: Andritz AG
Ticker: ANDR (Vienna Stock Exchange) / AZ2.F (Frankfurt)
ISIN: AT0000730007
Headquarters: Graz, Austria
Employees: ~30,000
2024 Revenue: €8.31 billion
Order Backlog (Q3 2025): €10.8 billion
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