It was founded as the Bühnen- und Musikverlag Hans Gerig in the city of Cologne in 1946 by Hans Gerig (1910–1978).
Over time, the firm grew to include a total of 36 different publishing houses: including the subsidiaries: Sidemton, Mondial, Rialto, Excelsior and Volk.
[1] In ceased to exist after being acquired by ROBA Music Publishing in 2022.
At the time of its acquisition, the Gerig firm was described as "Germany's leading music publisher"; a position if had held for decades.
Its catalogue at the time of purchase included more than 30,000 songs and the master rights to thousands of works.