LG has confirmed that it will move its European HQ from London and Ratingen, near Dusseldorf, to Eschborn in Germany. All employees who are willing to move with the company will be able to. The first employees will move to the new 9,500m² space in Eschborn by the end of the year, and the move will be completed by spring 2017. LG says that the decision to move was taken in spring 2016, and was not influenced by Britain’s vote to leave the EU.
Germany was chosen as LG’s new European HQ because it provides both a strong consumer market and growth opportunities in the areas of digital signage, solar, lighting and automotive. It is also a central location in Europe with good transport links.
Analyst Comment
This helps to build a ‘Korean cluster’ in Frankfurt. Samsung Display and BOE are already in Eschborn and Samsung’s German HQ is in Schwalbach, close by. We have sometimes seen companies move their HQs as a way of having a full scale ‘clean out’ of a culture or a group of employees (I can think of two examples where I was told privately that this was the case). The fact that LG has moved both its HQ and its German operation suggest that it may have wanted to do the same. (BR)
