Cosa Liebermann
Cosa Liebermann was a Swiss trading company that linked business between the Far East and Europe. It began in 1912 in Japan as Liebermann-Wälchli & Co. AG, founded by Johann Wälchli and Ernst Liebermann. The firm traded in goods such as textiles and other consumer products and operated from Switzerland, serving markets in Asia and Europe.
In 1988, it merged with Übersee-Handel AG (UHAG) to form Cosa Liebermann; "Cosa" stands for Commerce d’outre-mer, meaning Overseas Trading Corporation. In the same year, the company also acquired the German sporting goods maker Puma.
In 1990, Claude Barbey and his family sold Cosa Liebermann to Anova, led by Stephan Schmidheiny. From 1994, the company was partly owned (50%) by the Dutch trader Hagemeyer. At the end of 1999, Hagemeyer bought the remaining shares and fully absorbed Cosa Liebermann.
Before being absorbed, Cosa Liebermann was one of the major import-export companies between the Far East and Europe, with offices in Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Thailand. It represented Swiss firms such as Sulzer and Rieter; it operated trading houses in Europe and Switzerland (including Lacorey in Geneva) and handled the import of textiles and other goods.
Headquarters were in Switzerland; it served Asia and Europe. The key figures included Claude Barbey and Stephan Schmidheiny.
This page was last edited on 28 January 2026, at 16:33 (CET).