Press Release July 2011

“We’ll now get to be a hundred years old”
David Pirtle – President and CEO of Gemeinhardt



Looking ahead a little, June 25th 2011 will be seen as a significant date in the history of the famous Gemeinhardt Flute Company. Established in 1948 by Kurt Gemeinhardt a fourth generation flute maker, the world famous brand name has, since 1993, been under the ownership of investment banks. The past few years however have seen a much closer working relationship develop between Gemeinhardt’s management and their major supplier, Angel Industries Co. Ltd in Taiwan – widely acknowledged as the premier manufacturer of woodwind musical instruments. This has enabled recent significant growth in Gemeinhardt flute sales along with increasing dealer demand to extend the Gemeinhardt brand name in to other areas of woodwind instrument manufacturing.

We are therefore delighted to inform you that on the 25th June 2011, all the assets of Gemeinhardt Company and manufacturing facility in Elkhart, Indiana have been acquired by Angel Industries, who will continue to work closely with Gemeinhardt’s experienced management and workforce to drive the company forward with confidence.

This acquisition restores stability to the Gemeinhardt Company and provides confidence and investment for future product developments as well as bringing benefits to both US and International markets to generate significant new business and revenue opportunities. The combination of the Gemeinhardt and Angel manufacturing facilities will offer unrivalled growth potential and will extend the opportunities for the Gemeinhardt world class ‘USA’ brand to reach a wider global audience - Gemeinhardt’s future now rests safely again in the capable and experienced hands of musical industry manufacturing partners.

President and CEO of Gemeinhardt Dave Pirtle comments “we have been working for this day for the past few months with the goal of introducing these new arrangements seamlessly and thus ensure continuity for our manufacturing, staff, customers and suppliers. This really is great news for Gemeinhardt; I’ve been here for over 29 years and at last can feel that this totally secures our future!”

Speaking on behalf of Angel Industries, Frank Yang commented, “It became obvious some time ago that Gemeinhardt and Angel could be a good fit together. Gemeinhardt customers demand the highest quality and we are delighted to be able to meet this challenge for many years to come”.

The history of the music industry is littered with many stories, some happy and some not so. Just once in while an event takes place which positively transforms the face and future of a brand name. The 25th of June 2011 could just be the date which ensures that the Gemeinhardt brand will still be enjoyed by musicians for generations to come. Kurt would be proud!