Aurelius (company)

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AURELIUS Equity Opportunities SE & Co. KGaA
legal form SE & Co. KGaA
ISIN DE000A0JK2A8
founding March 20, 2006
Seat Grünwald , GermanyGermanyGermany 
management
  • Dirk Markus , CEO ,
    Gert Purkert
    Steffen Schiefer
    Fritz Seemann
    Matthias Täubl
Number of employees 13,486
sales 3.6 billion euros (2019)
Branch Holding company
Website www.aureliusinvest.de
As of December 31, 2019

Aurelius is a listed investment company that was founded in 2006 and is based in Grünwald near Munich . Aurelius shares are listed on the m: access of the Munich Stock Exchange and are traded on other German stock exchanges. With offices in Munich, London , Stockholm , Madrid and Amsterdam as well as numerous international group subsidiaries, Aurelius is active worldwide. In the 2019 financial year, the company achieved sales of around EUR 3.6 billion.

history

In 2006, the two former McKinsey consultants Dirk Markus and Gert Purkert founded Aurelius and began to acquire companies in upheaval and special situations with start-up capital of 500,000 euros. On June 26, 2006, the company went public on the Open Market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange , which had 613,450 ordinary bearer shares. While sales in the first financial year 2006 were 22 million euros and 659 people were employed, sales rose to around one billion euros by the 2013 financial year. In the same year around 11,000 people were employed. The first holdings were the Richard Scherpe Group (printing), the GHOTEL Group (hotels), Grillo Peißenberg GmbH (metal processing) and the KWE Group (steel construction). On October 1, 2015, Aurelius was converted from a stock corporation into an SE & Co. KGaA. The GHotel Group, which was acquired in 2006, was sold after 13 years in 2020 for 63 million euros.

Due to the corporate structure and Aurelius' approach to buying, developing and selling investments, Aurelius is often referred to in the media as the German Berkshire Hathaway .

Today, Aurelius pursues different investment strategies with different investment vehicles. The group is divided into five divisions:

  1. the listed Aurelius Equity Opportunities SE & Co. KGaA
  2. Aurelius Growth Capital SE & CO. KG
  3. the Aurelius Real Estate Opportunities
  4. the Aurelius Finance Company as well
  5. the non-profit Aurelius Refugee Initiative eV

Aurelius Growth Capital is a long-term investment company that invests in succession solutions and small, profitable medium-sized companies. Aurelius Real Estate Opportunities focuses on investments in residential, office, retail, hotel and care properties as well as multi-storey car parks and underground garages. Aurelius Finance Company is a lender providing capital to UK and European businesses through alternative forms of finance. With the non-profit Aurelius Refugee Initiative eV, Aurelius runs an aid program for refugees, which among other things supports the Start Foundation .

In March 2017 there was a so-called " short " attack by the US hedge fund Gotham City Research. In his report, he criticized above all the too high valuation of individual company holdings. As a result, the share price halved, and Aurelius management announced two share buyback programs and a dividend increase as a defense measure. The allegations from Gotham City turned out to be false. Aurelius was able to successfully sell several holdings at significantly higher sales prices.

At the end of January 2020, Aurelius was again the target of a short attack, this time through a 48-page report by the short seller Ontake Research, to which the company responded with a 14-page statement and accused Ontake of distributing misleading information in a manipulative manner. On February 4, 2020, BaFin publicly warned against Ontake Research because of a violation of Section 86 (1) WpHG .

Data

year Group sales Group EBITDA Employees (December 31) Market capitalization (December 31st)
2006 17.6 million euros 4.2 million euros 659 60 million euros
2007 266.5 million euros 69.0 million euros 2,800 323 million euros
2008 349.0 million euros 78.0 million euros 3,179 148 million euros
2009 711.4 million euros 126.5 million euros 3,523 97 million euros
2010 743.6 million euros 211.5 million euros 6,803 173 million euros
2011 864.2 million euros 64.8 million euros 6,631 234 million euros
2012 1,195.0 million euros 162.4 million euros 10,226 384 million euros
2013 1,346.2 million euros 88.7 million euros 11,110 935 million euros
2014 1,531.8 million euros 214.6 million euros 12,442 997 million euros
2015 1,596.1 million euros 266.1 million euros 22,898 1,524 million euros
2016 1,574.9 million euros 148.4 million euros 21,806 1,735 million euros
2017 3,353.5 million euros 627.7 million euros 19,263 1,753 million euros
2018 3,389.0 million euros 94.4 million euros 15,131 976 million euros
2019 3,192.2 million euros 271.4 million euros 13,486 1,203.1 million euros

Holdings

The company has 24 investments in its corporate portfolio (as of December 2019). These include Calachem, a producer of chemical substances based in Scotland and, since September 2012, the specialist for active plant ingredients and specialty industrial chemicals Briar Chemicals, as well as the car radio subsidiary Blaupunkt, which was taken over from the automotive supplier Bosch in March 2009 (dissolved after bankruptcy in 2016).

Aurelius also holds 75.29 percent of the listed HanseYachts AG , a manufacturer of sailing and motor yachts and, since 2017, also catamarans of the Privilege brand.

In April 2014 the takeover of Individual Desktop Solutions GmbH from T-Systems was announced. In July 2014, Aurelius Scholl Footwear took over from the previous owner Reckitt Benckiser and thus global sales with the exception of North America, where shoes from Merck & Co. and the Brown Shoe Company are sold under the Dr. Scholl's are expelled.

On January 1, 2015, Conaxess Trade (formerly: Valora Trade), a distributor for Fast Moving Consumer Goods ( FMCG ) in large-scale retail, especially in Northern Europe, was taken over by the Swiss Valora Holding AG.

Calumet Photographic , a multichannel retail group for everything to do with photography, has been part of Aurelius since June 2016 .

The takeover of Office Depot's European business was also announced in 2016 . Office Depot employs around 6,000 people in Europe and achieved sales of around EUR 2 billion in 2016. The acquisition was completed on January 2, 2017.

In May 2017 it was announced that it had acquired a majority in Privilege Marine. The French company produces luxury catamarans, sailing catamarans and powerful motor catamars. Various synergy effects with HanseYachts AG are hoped for.

Group of companies Branch Segment affiliation Head office
HanseYachts Manufacturer of sailing yachts Industrial production Greifswald , Germany
CalaChem Fine chemicals producer Industrial production Grangemouth , UK
Briar Chemicals Specialty chemicals producer Industrial production Norwich , UK
Hammerl Manufacturer of spacers made of plastic, steel and concrete as well as construction foils and consumables Industrial production Sprockhövel , Germany
LD Didactic Providers of technical teaching systems Services & Solutions Huerth , Germany
AKAD University Distance higher education Services & Solutions Stuttgart , Germany
B + P scaffolding Scaffolding and services in the field of construction site equipment Services & Solutions Berlin , Germany
Transform / The Hospital Group Providers of surgical and non-surgical cosmetic procedures Services & Solutions Manchester , UK
Scholl footwear Supplier of health and comfort shoes Retail & Consumer Products Milan , Italy
Conaxess Trade Distributor of Fast Moving Consumer Goods Retail & Consumer Products Copenhagen , Denmark
Calumet Photographic Multichannel retail chain for photo accessories and manufacturer of professional lighting systems Retail & Consumer Products Hamburg , Germany
Office Depot Europe Wholesaling and retailing of office supplies Retail & Consumer Products Venlo , the Netherlands
Silvan Do-it-yourself retail chain Retail & Consumer Products Aarhus , Denmark
Ideal World TV shopping group Consumer products United Kingdom
VAG Water and wastewater fittings manufacturer Industrial production Mannheim , Germany
Hellanor Automotive spare parts wholesaler Industrial production Skytta near Oslo , Norway
Rivus Fleet Solutions Fleet operators Services Solihull , United Kingdom
MPRO & YouBuild Building material retail chains Retail & Consumer Products Brussels , Belgium
ZIM Flugsitz GmbH Manufacturer of aircraft seats Industrial production Markdorf , Germany
Distrelec Online distributor of electronic and technical components in the B2B area Online distributor Manchester , UK

Nänikon , Switzerland

Nedis Electronics wholesaler Wholesaler 's Hertogenbosch , Netherlands
ConverterTec (ex. Woodward Kempen GmbH) Components for wind turbines Industrial production Kempen , Germany / Krakow , Poland

Former holdings

In total, Aurelius has been responsible for more than 100 purchases and sales of companies in the company's history.

Already in 2012 sold Aurelius in 2007 acquired electric motor manufacturer Schabmüller to the Italian ZAPI group and allowed the former employees because of the high profits a ride on the then also in the portfolio Germany . Aurelius had invested in jobs and the Berching location the years before .

The Irish holding Wellman International, which was also acquired in 2007, was sold to the Thai Indorama Group in September 2011 for 42 million euros .

The shirt manufacturer Einhorn, based in Kirchentellinsfurt , was acquired in 2007; In August 2010 an insolvency notification followed with a business transaction.

In 2008, Aurelius took over the spirits manufacturer Berentzen during the crisis, helped to reorganize the family business and gradually sold its shares again until 2016.

In 2010 Aurelius took over the ailing shipping company Peter Deilmann , which also included the cruise ship Germany , at the time also known as " The Dream Ship " from the television series of the same name, with public attention . Attempts to realign it in the following years, however, failed due to resistance from various interest groups. In January 2014 Aurelius sold the stake in the shipping company and ship to Callista Private Equity.

The Swiss IT service provider connectis was sold to the French Spie Group in August 2014 for around 50 million Swiss francs (around 40 million euros). The company has grown continuously while it was part of Aurelius in 2008 and was able to almost double its sales through acquisitions, among other things, and rose from number five to number two in the Swiss market. Aurelius achieved a multiplier of 25.7 on the capital employed with the sale.

In March 2016 fidelis HR (formerly: TDS Informationstechnologie AG ) was sold to SD Worx , a leading European provider of human resource services with headquarters in Antwerp , Belgium . The sales price was 61 million euros, and Aurelius achieved a multiplier of 11 times the capital employed. Aurelius has significantly expanded the business of fidelis HR since taking over TDS in 2013, among other things by winning new customers, and was able to quintuple its operating result during this time.

The group company Isochem SAS , acquired in 2010, filed for insolvency on July 4, 2017 . An important customer contract had been terminated for reasons that had nothing to do with Isochem, which led to the sudden loss of around 35% of sales. Isochem was then sold by the insolvency administrator to the US PMC Group , and most of the jobs were retained.

With the sale of the Getronics IT group in 2017 for 220 million euros, Aurelius posted the most successful sale in the company's history to date and generated a multiplier of 18.5 times on the capital employed. Aurelius took over Getronics from the Dutch KPN in 2012 and realigned it in the following years. In March 2015, a company in the Getronics Group, Getronics Premium IT Services GmbH in Darmstadt , filed for insolvency proceedings under self- administration. The process was successfully completed with a restructuring and the company was sold in October 2016.

Also in 2017, the Secop Group company, which was taken over in 2010, was sold for 185 million euros. Aurelius acquired Secop in 2010 in a crisis situation from the Danish Danfoss Group and successfully repositioned it through intensive realignment, the takeover of competitor ACC Austria and the relocation of production to Slovakia, and after seven years was able to raise the company for 11 times the capital employed to sell. Secop GmbH relocated production to Goldmorawitz (Slovak: Zlaté Moravce) in Slovakia before Aurelius took over . This resulted in massive job cuts at the production sites in Flensburg and Tschernembl (Slovenian: Crnomelj). On April 24, 2013, Secop acquired the insolvent ACC Austria ( Fürstenfeld location , Italian parent company is ACC), a compressor manufacturer with around 680 employees, for more than € 25 million with the location guaranteed. This acquisition is subject to the approval of the Cartel Office.

In addition, the Studienkreis acquired in 2012 was sold in 2017 for EUR 71.7 million, 11.6 times the capital employed.

The solid board and printed cardboard business unit of the Smurfit Kappa Group, which was taken over in April 2015 and has production sites in the Netherlands, Belgium and Great Britain, which was later renamed Solidus Solutions, was sold to Centerbridge in June 2019 with a multiple of 16 for 330 million euros. Aurelius thus posted the largest exit in the company's history to date.

Shareholder structure

proportion of Shareholders
74.07% Free float
19.27% Dirk Markus
5.78% Gert Purkert
0.88% Own shares

(As of May 2015)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Aurelius Annual Report 2019 (PDF) Aurelius Equity Opportunities SE & Co. KGaA, accessed on April 13, 2019 .
  2. ↑ HRB 221100 Published on: October 2nd, 2015. Accessed on September 20th, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Aurelius AG: Annual Report 2006. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 14, 2014 ; accessed on May 15, 2014 .
  4. ↑ AURELIUS completes conversion to SE & Co. KGaA. In: aureliusinvest.de. October 1, 2015, accessed December 5, 2019 .
  5. ^ Matthaes Verlag GmbH, Stuttgart Germany: Aurelius sells Ghotel hotel & living. Retrieved March 28, 2020 .
  6. ↑ DER AKTIONÄR TV: Aurelius: The German Berkshire Hathaway - DER AKTIONÄR TV . In: The Shareholder TV . ( deraktionaer.tv [accessed on September 20, 2018]). Aurelius: The German Berkshire Hathaway - DER AKTIONÄR TV ( Memento from September 20, 2018 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ Aurelius growth capital. Retrieved November 29, 2018 .
  8. ^ Aurelius Real Estate Opportunities. Retrieved November 29, 2018 .
  9. ^ Aurelius Finance Company. Retrieved November 29, 2018 .
  10. ^ Aurelius Refugee Initiative eV Accessed on November 29, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Start Foundation: 16 Bavarian young people with migration experience accepted into the education and engagement program of the START Foundation. Retrieved December 29, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Bettina Seidl: Who is Gotham City? In: ARD Börse Aktuell . March 31, 2017 ( ard.de ).
  13. ↑ Financial investor Aurelius: Fight against hedge funds shows success . ( handelsblatt.com [accessed September 20, 2018]).
  14. ↑ Julia Schmitt: Aurelius accuses short seller Ontake of forgery. In: Finance (magazine). February 4, 2020, accessed February 10, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Warning: ONTAKE RESEARCH breaches Section 86 (1) WpHG. In: Federal Financial Supervisory Authority. February 4, 2020, accessed February 10, 2020 .
  16. ↑ Key figures Aurelius Equity Opportunities. (PDF) Retrieved January 3, 2019 .
  17. ↑ Bloomberg: Company Overview of AURELIUS Equity Opportunities SE & Co. KGaA. Bloomberg, accessed January 3, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Crop chemical factory deal agreed . In: BBC News . April 4, 2012 ( bbc.co.uk [accessed August 14, 2018]).
  19. ↑ Bosch to sell Blaupunkt - financial investor Aurelius takes over. In: www.wallstreet-online.de. December 18, 2008, accessed December 5, 2019 .
  20. ↑ WORLD: HanseYachts mother Aurelius enters the catamaran market . In: THE WORLD . May 19, 2017 ( welt.de [accessed on August 14, 2018]).
  21. ↑ AURELIUS buys Individual Desktop Services from T-Systems. In: aureliusinvest.de. April 8, 2014, accessed December 5, 2019 .
  22. ↑ AURELIUS takes over Scholl's shoe division from Reckitt Benckiser. In: /aureliusinvest.de. July 21, 2014, accessed December 5, 2019 .
  23. ↑ Valora Trade becomes Conaxess Trade | Trade newspaper . In: Handelszeitung . ( handelszeitung.at [accessed on August 14, 2018]).
  24. ↑ Aurelius: Entry into the photo business - Boersengefluester . In: Boersengefluester . June 7, 2016 ( boersengefluester.de [accessed August 14, 2018]).
  25. ↑ AURELIUS completes takeover of Office Depot Europe , at www.aureliusinvest.de, accessed on April 29, 2017
  26. ↑ Aurelius sails in catamaran market . In: ARD Börse Aktuell . May 19, 2017 ( Aurelius sails in catamaran market ( Memento from May 25, 2017 in the Internet Archive )).
  27. ↑ AURELIUS Equity Opportunities SE & Co. KGaA: Aurelius | Financial reports. Annual Report 2017 page 16. Accessed May 17, 2018 .
  28. ↑ aktiencheck.de AG: AURELIUS: Subsidiary Schabmüller buys AC motor division from Sauer Danfoss (aktiencheck.de) | News | aktiencheck.de. Retrieved May 17, 2018 .
  29. ↑ Mittelbayerische.de: Berching company gives away cruises . In: Mittelbayerische Zeitung . ( Mittelbayerische.de [accessed on May 17, 2018]).
  30. ↑ Mittelbayerische.de : New jobs at Schabmüller in the Sollngriesbach plant . In: Mittelbayerische Zeitung . ( Mittelbayerische.de [accessed on October 12, 2018]).
  31. ^ Aurelius: Aurelius sells Wellman International to the Thai Indorama Group. Retrieved October 12, 2018 .
  32. ↑ Stuttgarter Nachrichten, Stuttgart Germany: Company bankruptcy: The last unicorn shirt. In: www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de. November 3, 2010, accessed December 5, 2019 .
  33. ↑ NDR: Berentzen is burning again . ( ndr.de [accessed on August 14, 2018]).
  34. ↑ FOCUS Online: Financial holding Aurelius takes over "Traumschiff" . In: FOCUS Online . ( focus.de [accessed on March 27, 2018]).
  35. ↑ Holger Paul: MS Germany: rough wind hits the dream ship . In: FAZ.NET . December 27, 2013, ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed March 27, 2018]).
  36. ^ Stephan Maaß: MS "Germany": Financial investor wants to save the "dream ship" . In: THE WORLD . January 8, 2014 ( welt.de [accessed March 27, 2018]).
  37. ↑ inside-channels.ch: Connectis is sold. Retrieved October 12, 2018 .
  38. ^ Share model portfolio value Aurelius: The next deal is perfect . ( deraktionaer.de [accessed on October 12, 2018]).
  39. ^ Aurelius: Connectis successful historic development. (PDF) Retrieved October 12, 2018 .
  40. ↑ Copyright Haufe-Lexware GmbH & Co. KG - all rights reserved: SD Worx takes over Fidelis HR | Personnel | Heap . In: Haufe.de news and specialist knowledge . ( haufe.de [accessed on October 12, 2018]).
  41. ↑ Aurelius: Acquisition of TDS HR Services & Solutions May 2013 Renamed to fidelis HR in August 2013. (PDF) Retrieved on October 12, 2018 .
  42. ↑ Tatjana Anderer : AURELIUS sells fidelis HR to HR services provider SD Worx - FYB Financial Yearbook . In: FYB Financial Yearbook . April 6, 2016 ( fyb.de [accessed October 12, 2018]).
  43. ↑ Aurelius takes over the Isochem chemistry group . ( finance-magazin.de [accessed on May 17, 2018]).
  44. ↑ a b Aurelius | Financial reports. Annual Report 2017 page 29. Accessed May 17, 2018 .
  45. ↑ Aurelius Report of the Supervisory Board 2017: Report of the Supervisory Board. (PDF) Retrieved May 17, 2018 .
  46. ↑ Investor Aurelius: millions in revenue thanks to the sale of an IT company . ( handelsblatt.com [accessed May 17, 2018]).
  47. ^ Aurelius | AURELIUS: Sale of Getronics Group completed - largest exit in AURELIUS company history. Retrieved May 17, 2018 .
  48. ↑ Aurelius buys further Getronics shares from KPN | www.4investors.de . In: 4investors.de . ( 4investors.de [accessed on May 17, 2018]).
  49. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from May 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  50. ^ Aurelius | Acquisition of Danfoss Household Compressors completed. Retrieved May 17, 2018 .
  51. ^ Aurelius | AURELIUS sells compressor manufacturer SECOP to Nidec Group and doubles dividend. Retrieved May 17, 2018 .
  52. ↑ Fixed ACC sale to German Secop. Kleine Zeitung , April 24, 2013, archived from the original on October 12, 2014 . ;.
  53. ↑ Tuition from the financial investor: Aurelius buys "Studienkreis" . In: Spiegel Online . December 10, 2012 ( spiegel.de [accessed May 17, 2018]).
  54. ↑ Aurelius sells Studienkreis to IK Investment Partners . ( finance-magazin.de [accessed on May 17, 2018]).
  55. ^ Aurelius | AURELIUS sells Studienkreis Group. Retrieved May 17, 2018 .
  56. ↑ Smurfit Kappa sells solid board division to German Aurelius AG | EUWID paper and pulp. Retrieved December 29, 2019 .
  57. ↑ Aurelius reports the largest exit with 330 million euros - boersen-zeitung.de. Retrieved December 29, 2019 .
  58. ↑ http://aureliusinvest.de/site/assets/files/1732/umwandlungsbericht_2015.pdf

Coordinates: 48 ° 2 ′ 41.1 ″  N , 11 ° 31 ′ 45.3 ″  E