Sonepar
| Sonepar SA
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | Société Anonyme (France) |
| founding | 1969 |
| Seat |
Paris , France
|
| management | Philippe Delpech (CEO) |
| Number of employees | 44,500 (2017) |
| sales | EUR 21.6 billion (2017) |
| Branch | Electrical wholesaling |
| Website | www.sonepar.com |
The Sonepar SA ( Société de Négoce et Participation , dt .: trading and investment company) based in Paris is a French company in the field of wholesale of electrical goods .
Company profile
The group includes around 170 companies in 44 countries on five continents. The Sonepar Group employs around 44,500 people and has more than 2,800 locations. In 2017 the group generated worldwide sales of over 21 billion euros (2011: 14.7 billion euros). The Sonepar Group is the market leader in electrical wholesaling. Philippe Delpech has been the group's new CEO since 2017.
history
The Sonepar Group is a family-run company founded in 1969 by Henri Coisne. Sonepar was born out of a desire for diversification by two families who had worked together as partners for a century. In 1862, Henri Coisne, the son of a farmer, and Léopold Lambert, a Belgian trader, decided to jointly set up a weaving mill in northern France. The following generations continued this business.
In 1960 the Société de Négoce et de Participation (trading and investment company) was founded by 11 partners and descendants of the Coisne and Lambert families. Sonepar's job was to manage the families' assets, which had been acquired for diversification purposes, in businesses outside the textile sector.
In 1968, Henri Coisne, who returned to the family business in 1962 after his military career in the French Air Force, was given the task of putting Sonepar on an expansion course and making investments in a market with good long-term growth prospects. Contacts with manufacturers of electrical goods showed that the distribution of these goods represented a growth niche. "This area was not yet structured and was not seen as extremely attractive by either banks or investors," explains Henri Coisne.
With the purchase of Comptoir d'Électricité Franco-Belge at the beginning of 1969, the family company entered the electrical industry. In the 1970s, the group bought a number of French companies that acted as regional bases in France:
- 1973: Comptoir Lyonnais d'Electricité (CLE) (southwest)
- 1974: Sanelec (northeast)
- 1977: Groupe Marcel Tabur (GMT) (West)
CGED, the market leader in this sector, was added later, ensuring a nationwide network in France.
From 1982 the group expanded into various European countries. OTRA NV, the controlling holding of Technische Unie and Otto Kuhmann, ie the Dutch and German market leaders respectively, was up for sale due to the problems of their shareholder, the OGEM group. Sonepar had known the company management for a long time and committed to buying the company. With the purchase of OTRA NV, Sonepar opened up a market outside of France for the first time and Sonepar's company size doubled. Other European countries followed: Spain, Italy, Belgium, Russia, Scandinavia, Finland, Poland, Czech Republic and Romania.
Sonepar entered the Canadian market as early as 1984 with the purchase of Lumen in Quebec. In 1998 Sonepar gained a foothold in the United States, which has since made an important contribution to the group's growth. Since 2000 further investments have been made in Asia (Hong Kong) and Latin America (Mexico, Brazil and Argentina).
In 2000 the name of the Sonepar Holding was transferred to the distribution subsidiary for electrical goods and the holding was renamed Colam Entreprendre.
Presence in Germany
In 2012, sales of more than 2.5 billion euros were achieved in Germany. Sonepar Germany is the market leader in German electrical wholesaling, the holding company based in Düsseldorf is responsible for business in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania
As part of the takeover of the Dutch electrical wholesaling group Hagemeyer by the French competitor Rexel in March 2008, its German subsidiary, Rexel Germany, was sold to Sonepar and now operates under the name of DEG Deutsche Elektro-Gruppe .
Web links
- Website of the German branch
- Website of the DEG Deutsche Elektro Group
- Group website (French, English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Sonepar Quick facts
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from July 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
