Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
Imperial Brands, a UK-based tobacco company, has announced the closure of its cigarette production plant in Langenhagen, Germany, affecting around 600 production workers.
The plant, operated under its subsidiary Reemtsma, will be shut down gradually by 2027 after failed attempts to sell the site to an external investor, with the decision driven by high production costs, low capacity utilisation of around 50%, and declining demand for traditional tobacco products.
The company has stated that socially responsible solutions will be developed for the affected employees. The trade union NGG has strongly criticised the company’s approach, stating it was not involved in the sales negotiations and that employees were left in uncertainty for months, while the company rejected these claims, citing confidentiality obligations and asserting that information had been shared within those limits.
Imperial Brands is an international tobacco company whose German subsidiary, Reemtsma, has been manufacturing cigarettes and fine-cut tobacco at its site in Langenhagen since 1971.
Previous internal restructuring measures were recorded in the ERM database in 2018, with 159 jobs being cut at the Langenhagen site Reemtsma 2018 - DE.
Eurofound (2025), Reemtsma, Closure in Germany, factsheet number 204531, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/204531.