In December 2019, Helgstrand Dressage acquired the property Windsome Farm in the horse mecca Wellington in the American state Florida, and now all the final details with the acquisition of Gestüt Famos are falling into place. Gestüt Famos can from a breeder’s perspective be seen as the German counterpart to the property in Wellington. As a result of the acquisition, the name of Gestüt Famos will be changed to Helgstrand Germany.
The German cities Vechta and Verden constitute the heart of the German world of breeding, and it is completely intentional that Helgstrand Dressage decides to invest in this luxurious farm in Germany, that is founded by the now-deceased rich man and legend in the field of bread production, Klaus Ostendorf. The place is located half an hour drive south of Bremen and is thereby just in between Vechta and Verden, which every year is hosting the joint stallion shows between Helgstrand and Shockemöhle.
- For a long time, we have been looking for a base in this area, that has the potential of redeeming our high ambitions. Not only in relation to responding to the demand of sales horses on the German market, but also allowing us to expand our stallion station, that until now has been run at Sudenhof in Hagen. Germany is one of our biggest markets and the potential is even bigger, if we are present with an independent sales division, in order to appear where our customers are, Andreas states.
Gestüt Famos was founded in 1906 and has in 2002 gone through an extensive renovation, making the place appear state-of-the-art with a main house made in timber frame and facilities allowing the absolute best training also securing the possibility of hosting major events. In unique park-alike surroundings like the property in Wellington, Helgstrand Germany is soon ready for the family Möller consisting of Dr. Ulf Möller and his wife Eva Möller. Ulf has since 2017 been the head of both the German and American departments of Helgstrand and will now be the daily manager of Helgstrand Germany, where his wife Eva as well will be employed full time as a rider.
- The fact that Helgstrand Dressage now has acquired Gestüt Famos is strategically a good decision, as the location of the place is very attractive. Right in between Hannover, Oldenburg and Westfalen, which are the three biggest breeding associations. The place is the best foundation for running a solid sales stable, as we can now welcome clients here as well, and not only in Northern Jutland. At the same time, it is not further away from the Headquarters, that by special wishes from clients, we can transport the horses from there to the department in Germany, Ulf Möller states and continues: we are additionally very pleased with the possibility to control and further develop the place as we wish to, and in line with the established Helgstrand concept.
- It is an amazing opportunity and challenge for my family, and I am pleased that Andreas and Waterland Private Equity are trusting us with this decision. It will be very exciting coming along on the journey of building Helgstrand Germany with a sales stable and a stallion station. Moreover, I am looking forward to ascribing all my time to Helgstrand Dressage, as I think the last 4 years has been an absolute pleasure. The future looks bright and brings a lot of challenges, but we are very excited to see where it takes us, Eva Möller narrates.
