Electric watt
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Elektrowatt (electric bank) |
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|---|---|
| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | 1895 |
| Seat | Zurich , Switzerland |
| Number of employees | Max. 17,421 (1991) |
| sales | Max. 4.5 billion CHF (1991) |
| Branch | Participations : |
Elektrowatt (formerly the bank for electrical companies , or Elektrobank for short ) is a former German / Swiss investment and financing company based in Zurich . Until it was broken up in the late 1990s, it was primarily active in the field of energy supply and the electrical industry in Switzerland and Germany, but also in Austria, Italy, Spain and overseas.
history
Background / foundation
The company was founded in 1895 as a bank for electrical companies ( electro bank for short ) by the German Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft ( AEG ) in conjunction with a banking consortium led by the Swiss Credit Authority (SKA) .
The electrical bank was a typical financing company in the European electrical industry at the end of the 19th century. Due to the large capital requirement and the high entrepreneurial risk in this phase of industrialization, some large industrial companies in conjunction with banks and other financiers founded subsidiaries without operational business, which served exclusively the participation in other companies (mostly through bonds ). So founded z. B. the AEG in addition to the electrical bank in 1894 also the society for electrical companies (Gesfürel) and in 1895 the electricity delivery company (ELG) . The Schuckert & Co. in 1894 founded the Rheinische Schuckert Company for Electric Industry AG (RSG, later RheinEnergie) and 1895 also the Continentale society for electrical enterprises ( "Continentale") . The Elektrizitäts-AG formerly W. Lahmeyer & Co. founded the German Society for Electrical Enterprises .
Growth and consolidation
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In the early days of electrification, the electrical bank was mainly active in Germany and Switzerland. Among other things, it financed the construction of the large hydropower plants in Rheinfelden (1898), Augst-Wyhlen (1912) and Laufenburg (1914).
The First World War led to the withdrawal of AEG and a regional relocation of business away from Germany to other countries such as Austria, Italy, Spain and France. In addition, the Elektrobank was increasingly active not only in the area of financing, but also in the area of project development and technical planning. For this purpose, an engineering planning department ("Baubureau") , later EWI , was founded in 1920 . In 1939, the electrical bank was one of the founders of Pilatus Flugzeugwerke AG .
In 1946 the name was changed to Elektro-Watt Elektro und Industrielle Unternehmerungen AG . The company planned and financed numerous power plant projects (especially hydropower) in Switzerland, Europe and around the world. Elektro-Watt was involved in the construction of the Ataturk Dam , the Karakaya hydropower plant and, in Switzerland, the Leibstadt nuclear power plant .
Busting
In the mid-1990s, the main owner, Credit Suisse (successor to SKA), decided to reorient and exit the energy business. Elektrowatt was therefore split up and sold successively:
- The core area with the investments in the field of energy supply was outsourced to Watt AG in 1996 . Credit Suisse sold its shares in NOK (31%), Bayernwerk and EnBW (each 24.5%) to a minority stake of 20% . In 2001/2002, the German shareholders EnBW and E.ON (successor to Bayernwerk) surrendered their shares to NOK and its parent company, Axpo , so that Watt AG was wholly Swiss-owned. In return, the German subsidiary Watt Deutschland , founded in 1998, and the Rheinfelden and Laufenburg power plants went 100% to EnBW in 2004. E.ON withdrew and instead expanded its involvement with BKW FMB Energie .
- The Industry division was taken over by Siemens in 1996 and integrated into the group under the name Siemens Building Technologies .
- The technical planning company Elektrowatt Ingenieurunternehmungen AG (EWI) , later Electrowatt Engineering AG , which has been independent since 1964 , was sold to the Finnish group Jaakko Pöyry in 1999 . In 2001 the company was divided into an energy division (Electrowatt-Ekono AG) and an infrastructure division (Electrowatt Infra AG). They traded as Pöyry Energy AG and Pöyry Infra AG . In 2006, all companies in the EWI group were finally renamed Pöyry .
The remaining Elektrowatt Holding (last run as a GmbH without any holdings) was liquidated in 2008.
Holdings
In the course of its existence, Elektrowatt held interests in the following companies:
- Energy supply area
- Laufenburg power plant / Laufenburg AG electricity company
- Centralschweizerische Kraftwerke AG
- Power transmission works Rheinfelden AG
- Watt AG
- → Watt Germany
- Serewatt AG
- Calpine Corporation (USA)
- T. Clarke plc (United Kingdom)
- Industrial electrical equipment
- Cerberus AG in Männedorf, fire protection
- Staefa Control System AG in Stäfa, building automation.
- Landis & Gyr AG in Zug
- → Landis & Staefa
- Schaffner Electronics AG
- Kummler & Matter AG
- Alfred Neye Enatechnik GmbH (Germany)
- Texim Electronics BV (Netherlands)
- Melcher AG
- TME Components BV (Netherlands)
- Vibro-Meter International AG
- Siemens-Albis Aktiengesellschaft
- Others
- Moor Finanz AG
- Unitech plc (United Kingdom)
- Prontophot Holding AG
- Ego Kunststoffwerk AG
- Göhner AG
- Elektrowatt Ingenieurunternehmung AG
- Sandwell, Inc. (Canada)
- Winter Partners Holding AG
- Elektrowatt Finance (BVI) Ltd. (British Virgin Islands)
literature
- Barbara Bonhage: Elektrowatt. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Entry of the former Elektrowatt AG in the commercial register of the canton of Zurich ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c d Elektrowatt AG - Company History on fundinguniverse.com (English)
- ^ A b Barbara Bonhage: Elektrowatt. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . November 14, 2005 , accessed June 7, 2019 .
- ↑ a b Pöyry Switzerland company brochure, section Our history - a review ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Gerald Spindler: Law and corporate group: Interdependencies of legal and corporate development in Germany and the USA between 1870 and 1933. Mohr Siebeck, 1993, ISBN 3-16-146123-1 .
- ^ Hans Pohl: Economy, business, credit system, social problems: selected essays . Franz Steiner Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-515-08583-1 .
- ^ Eckhard Wandel: Banks and Insurance in the 19th and 20th Century. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 1998, ISBN 3-486-55072-1
- ^ Leuschner Energie-Chronik (May 2002): Watt AG again completely in Swiss hands
- ↑ Watt: About us on watt.de ( Memento of the original from August 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Leuschner Energie-Chronik: EnBW takes over Watt Germany completely (September 2004)
- ↑ Siemens takes over Schweizer Elektrowatt. In: Berliner Zeitung. December 24, 1996.
- ↑ About us - The history of Siemens Building Technologies on siemens.ch ( Memento from April 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Pöyry Infra - company development on ewi.ch ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Pöyry Schweiz AG
