Swiss company AFG has announced the management buyout of its UK headquarters in Abingdon, Oxford to its current managing director, Jim Gettings (pictured).

Owner of the kitchen brands Warendorf Forster and Piatti, AFG agreed the sale to Gettings after it deciding that its wholly owned UK subsidiary company, AFG Kitchens UK in Abingdon, no longer fit in with its distribution policy going forward.

The AFG group has undergone some recent restructuring and will take much of the day to day running of the Warendorf brand back to Germany. All employees from AFG Kitchens UK in Abingdon now will move across to Gettings’ new company, Abingdon Furniture Gallery Ltd, which will continue as a retailer for premium Warendorf kitchen furniture but no longer under the AFG brand.

Gettings’ company name was chosen to match the initials of AFG, however has no connection with the original Swiss company’s name which stands for Arbonia Forster Holding AG.

Gettings said, “To offer our customers a wider breadth of choice and secure the competitiveness in other market segments besides the premium market, we have secured other opportunities to develop our ongoing growth”.

Managing Director of Warendorf, Thorsten Pree continued, “We are delighted that we will continue working with the team at Abingdon to promote the Warendorf brand.  The sale of the retail operation will allow us now to focus on our evolving distribution policy within the UK and Europe.”