Invest AG joins Philoro

Five years ago, the Turnauer family’s Constantia Industries acquired a 40 percent stake in Philoro. The management of the gold and precious metals dealer is now largely acquiring this share again. As it became known on Monday, the shareholders and management (founders Rudolf Brenner and Rene Brückler) now hold 94 percent. When asked, no information was provided about the purchase price.

Invest AG of Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberösterreich is on board as a financing partner: it now holds around six percent of the shares, as Invest AG board member Christoph Hikes says: “It is planned that Philoro will also buy this share in a few years.”

The overall package was right. “A new era is dawning for the company, it will develop well,” says Hikes. Invest AG holds more than 50 investments in Austria and southern Germany.

Brückler and Brenner founded Philoro in 2011. The company has 17 branches (five of them in Austria) in Europe, the USA and Hong Kong. The aim is to map the entire precious metal cycle. 60 million euros were invested in a gold refinery and smelter in Korneuburg, which was opened last year: The production capacity is 120 tons annually. “The initial focus there is on investment bars,” says Philoro CFO Florian Höller. Semi-finished products and industrial components are also planned in the future.

The new smelter makes it possible to act not only as a dealer, but also as a producer. “We buy more goods than before,” says Höller: “Demand is good. We notice that people are selling goods due to the increased price of gold. People want to realize things.” The group-wide purchasing volume was around 100 million euros in the first quarter. Philoro also trades silver, platinum and palladium. There are 230 employees and sales in 2023 were more than one billion euros.