Fresenius (company)

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Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA

logo
legal form SE & Co. KGaA
ISIN DE0005785604
founding 1912
Seat Bad Homburg , GermanyGermanyGermany 
management
  • Stephan Sturm , CEO
    Francesco De Meo
    Rachel Empey
    Jürgen Götz (until 06/2020)
    Sebastian Biedenkopf (from 01/2021)
    Mats Henriksson
    Rice Powell
    Ernst Wastler
Number of employees 294.134
sales 35.5 billion . Euro
Branch Health care, medical technology, pharmaceuticals
Website www.fresenius.de
As of December 31, 2019

Fresenius headquarters in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe
Fresenius headquarters
Fresenius headquarters

The Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA is a German medical technology and healthcare company based in Hessian Bad Homburg . The company is one of the largest private hospital operators in Germany and is active in the pharmaceutical and health services sector. Fresenius has a majority stake in the dialysis specialist Fresenius Medical Care . Since March 23, 2009 the company has been listed in the DAX of the German stock exchange . With effect from July 13, 2007, the company was transferred from a stock corporation (AG) under German law to a European company (SE). On January 28, 2011, the company was converted into a partnership limited by shares (KGaA).

In the Forbes Global 2000 of the world's largest listed companies, Fresenius ranks 258 (as of May 2019). The company had a market value of US $ 30.6 billion in mid-2019.

history

The Hirsch pharmacy , founded in Frankfurt am Main in 1462 , came into the hands of the Fresenius family in the 18th century. The pharmacist and owner of the Hirsch Pharmacy, Eduard Fresenius , founded the pharmaceutical company Dr. E. Fresenius . The focus of production was on medicinal specialties such as injection solutions, serological reagents and Bormelin nasal ointment. The production company was separated from the Hirsch Pharmacy in 1933/34 and relocated to Bad Homburg. In the following years it employed around 400 people. The surprising death of Eduard Fresenius in 1946 endangered the continued existence of the pharmacy and production facility. At that time, only 30 people were working there. Else Kröner , who at that time was still called Else Fernau, took over responsibility for pharmacy and production operations with her husband Hans Kröner in 1951 after completing a pharmacy degree and expanded the infusion solutions product group. From 1966 dialysis machines and dialyzers from various foreign manufacturers were sold and significant market shares were gained in this segment.

With the introduction of an amino acid solution based on the potato and egg model in 1971, Fresenius made a significant contribution to parenteral nutrition therapy. In 1974 the manufacture of infusion solutions and medical plastic products began in St. Wendel (Saarland). Today, Fresenius is there modern polysulfone - dialyzers ago. In 1979 the production of its own dialysis machine, the A2008, began in Schweinfurt .

In 1982 Fresenius was converted into a stock corporation, which went public in 1986. 1983 began with the production of synthetic polysulfone fiber membranes for dialysis , which determine the quality standard until today. In 1996, as part of the takeover of the US company National Medical Care, the subsidiary Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA (formerly Fresenius Medical Care AG ) was founded, which is now the world's leading provider of dialysis products and services.

In 1997 the most modern infusion solution factory in Europe went into operation in Friedberg (Hessen) . A year later, Fresenius took over the international infusion business of Pharmacia & Upjohn . The merger with the Fresenius Pharma division resulted in Fresenius Kabi, Europe's leading company in the field of nutritional and infusion therapy. In the same year, the company moved into the new corporate headquarters in Bad Homburg.

In 2001, Fresenius took over Wittgensteiner Kliniken AG with around 30 acute and specialist clinics and around 4,600 employees. The acquisition of Helios Kliniken followed in 2005 for 1.5 billion euros.

By taking over the US RenalCare Group in 2006, Fresenius expanded its market-leading position in the dialysis sector . More than 333,000 patients are cared for in more than 3,900 dialysis clinics worldwide (as of 2018).

In 2008, Fresenius entered the North American pharmaceutical market with the acquisition of the US company APP Pharmaceuticals and became one of the world's leading providers of intravenous generics .

Following the approval of an extraordinary general meeting on December 4, 2006 - with effect from July 13, 2007 - Fresenius AG changed its legal form to a European company and has been trading as Fresenius SE ever since. On January 28, 2011, the Group announced the change in legal form of Fresenius SE to a partnership limited by shares (KGaA) in connection with the conversion of the preferred shares into ordinary shares.

In 2012, Fresenius planned to take over the Rhön-Klinikum hospital group and merge it with Helios into one group, but it did not succeed.

On September 13, 2013, the company announced that it had concluded a contract with Rhön-Klinikum AG for the takeover of 43 clinics and 15 medical care centers (MVZ).

At the beginning of September 2016, the intention was announced to take over the largest private clinic operator in Spain, Quirónsalud , for 5.76 billion euros . Quirónsalud has 44 hospitals, 44 outpatient health centers and around 300 facilities for company health management. On December 22, 2016, the antitrust authorities granted their approval unconditionally. The transaction was completed on January 31, 2017.

In April 2017 it was announced that Fresenius would take over the US company Akorn, which specializes in generics, for a total of $ 4.75 billion. Fresenius broke the takeover due to a lack of takeover requirements. Akorn has filed a lawsuit against this. On October 1, 2018, the competent court dismissed the lawsuit. Fresenius therefore does not have to take over Akorn. Akorn has announced that it will appeal.

Criticism of tax avoidance strategies

In January 2020, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on tricks by the health company Fresenius according to a case study by the Tax Justice Network that has not yet been published . The study is entitled "Unhealthy Business Practices" and shows that it is by no means only US digital corporations that shift their profits to low-tax countries. The Bad Homburg group, according to the central allegation, uses classic methods to reduce its tax burden where corporate taxes are comparatively high. In addition, Fresenius is represented in almost all known tax havens , with branches on the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands , in Hong Kong , in the US state of Delaware , in Singapore and in Panama . According to the study, the classic means of choice to reduce the tax burden in high-tax countries are also used at Fresenius, such as in-house loans. For example, the Irish Fresenius subsidiaries achieved a profit of 47 million euros in 2017 just by granting loans to group companies in Spain and the USA - purely virtual , without employees. Fresenius listed around 2000 subsidiaries in 2014 before the group stopped publishing this list. With a tax avoidance is not a prohibited tax evasion .

Group structure

Companies in the group:

  • Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA : Provider of products and services for patients with chronic kidney failure , currently listed in the DAX .
  • Fresenius Helios :
    • Helios Kliniken GmbH : More than 35,000 beds in 112 clinics (end of 2016)
      • In 2001, Fresenius took over Wittgensteiner Kliniken AG with 30 acute and specialist clinics and around 4,600 employees
      • In 2005 Fresenius took over Helios GmbH, around 9,345 beds (2004), around 1.157 billion euros in sales (2004), 17,600 employees (2004)
      • January 1, 2006: Wittgensteiner Kliniken AG has merged with Helios-Kliniken
      • In 2014, Fresenius Helios took over 40 clinics and 11 medical care centers from Rhön-Klinikum AG
  • Fresenius Kabi : provider of infusion and nutritional therapy, further fields of activity are infusion and blood transfusion technology as well as outpatient health care .
  • Fresenius Netcare: internal IT provider of the Fresenius Group
  • Fresenius Vamed :
    • hospitalia international: Worldwide consulting, service and engineering services for turnkey construction, renovation, equipping and maintenance of hospitals, specialist clinics, rehabilitation and spa facilities
    • Vamed AG: Consulting, planning, construction and equipping of hospitals, health spas, senior centers and thermal facilities, management of health facilities, project developments, especially for health tourism facilities (77 percent stake)

Institut Fresenius and Hochschule Fresenius do not belong to the group . In June 2013, Fresenius also announced the sale of the previous biotechnology business Fresenius Biotech to the Israeli entrepreneur family Fuhrer.

Fresenius share

In 1982 Fresenius was converted into a stock corporation. The first Fresenius share to be listed on the stock exchange was a non-voting preference share in 1986 ; the ordinary share was only admitted a few years later.

In 2011, Fresenius was converted to a partnership limited by shares . In the course of the legal form conversion, all preference shares were converted into ordinary shares with voting rights.

In 2015 the Fresenius share was included in the EURO STOXX 50 . The EURO STOXX 50 shows the share price development of 50 large listed companies in the Eurozone from various industries.

Shareholder structure

The main shareholder is the Else Kröner-Fresenius-Foundation .

proportion of Shareholders
26.29% Else Kröner-Fresenius-Foundation
5.01% BlackRock
4.93% Allianz Global Investors
3.01% Janus Henderson
2.92% Capital Group Companies
57.84% Free float

As of December 31, 2017

A total of 600 institutional investors hold 350 million Fresenius shares or 63% of the share capital. Private investors hold 27.6 million Fresenius shares. The 10 largest shareholders hold 21% of the share capital.

Fresenius shares are predominantly owned by investors from Germany (43%), USA (18%) and Great Britain (12%).

Share price

The average annual price gain of Fresenius shares in the 10 years between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2017 was 13.3% annually. (Share price on January 1, 2008 at EUR 18.67, share price on December 31, 2017 at EUR 65.07. The lowest share price since January 1, 2008 was EUR 9.52 in 2009; the high was 79.82 Euros in 2017).

According to boerse.de , the Fresenius share has a good long-term investment quality . Fresenius is one of the DAX companies where goodwill exceeds the book value of equity. When creating a structural balance sheet in connection with a balance sheet analysis , the equity is netted with the goodwill.

Issues related to the death penalty

Fresenius Kabi opposes the use of its products in executions such as B. in the case of Carey Dean Moore in August 2018 in the US state of Nebraska.

literature

Web links

Commons : Fresenius SE  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fresenius: Sebastian Biedenkopf (56) becomes Board Member for Legal, Compliance and Human Resources. Family Businesses in Focus (FiFo) , June 23, 2020, accessed on June 24, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b Fresenius Online Annual Report 2019. In: fresenius.de. January 28, 2020, accessed April 15, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Hannover Re and Fresenius in the Dax. Financial Times Deutschland, March 5, 2009, archived from the original on November 6, 2012 ; Retrieved March 23, 2013 .
  4. ↑ Fresenius completes conversion into SE. Fresenius AG, July 16, 2007, accessed June 22, 2016 .
  5. ^ The World's Largest Public Companies . In: Forbes . ( forbes.com [accessed February 27, 2020]).
  6. ^ Fresenius company history , accessed May 6, 2018
  7. ↑ Fresenius: Annual Report 2018 (PDF) Accessed August 24, 2019 .
  8. ^ Hospital groups: Helios wants to take over Rhön. Deutsches Ärzteblatt, April 26, 2012, accessed on March 23, 2013 .
  9. ↑ ROUNDUP: Rhön board members throw in the towel - opportunity for realignment , focus.de
  10. ^ Rhön board members throw in the towel. Manager Magazin, September 28, 2012, accessed March 23, 2013 .
  11. ↑ Fresenius becomes a clinic giant. Süddeutsche Zeitung, September 13, 2013, accessed on September 13, 2013 .
  12. ↑ Press release: Fresenius Helios completes acquisition of Quirónsalud. Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA, January 31, 2017, accessed November 15, 2017.
  13. ↑ Pharma fusion fever: Fresenius pays billions for Akorn . In: Handelsblatt . April 24, 2017.
  14. ↑ Fresenius cancels billion- dollar takeover. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. April 22, 2018. Retrieved April 22, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Fresenius: We have been deliberately deceived and cheated. In: Economic Week. August 23, 2018, accessed September 18, 2018 .
  16. ↑ Fresenius does not have to take over Akorn. In: Finance magazine. October 1, 2018, accessed October 4, 2018 .
  17. ↑ Jan Willmroth: Seem poorer, get richer. Süddeutsche Zeitung , January 21, 2020 (Economics section).
  18. ↑ a b Fresenius: Annual Report 2017 (PDF) Retrieved on August 24, 2019 .
  19. ↑ Press release: Fresenius sells biotechnology business. Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA, June 28, 2013, accessed on June 22, 2016.
  20. ^ Fresenius company history , accessed May 6, 2018
  21. ↑ Company information on Fresenius, accessed May 6, 2018
  22. ↑ Historical prices of the Fresenius share, accessed May 6, 2018
  23. ↑ Long-term investment quality of the Fresenius share, accessed May 6, 2018
  24. ^ [1] The goodwill development 2008 - 2016 of the DAX30 companies, accessed May 29, 2018
  25. ↑ Judge Rejects Drug Maker's Attempt to Block Execution Nebraska. In: The New York Times. August 10, 2018, accessed March 7, 2020 .
  26. ↑ Sueddeutsche "Fresenius fails with lawsuit against poison cocktail"
  27. ↑ Deutschlandfunk "Fresenius Kabi fails in US court"


Coordinates: 50 ° 12 ′ 55.1 ″  N , 8 ° 37 ′ 23.9 ″  E