Techem

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Techem GmbH

logo
legal form GmbH
founding 1952
Seat Eschborn , GermanyGermanyGermany 
management Matthias Hartmann ( CEO )
Carsten Sürig ( CFO )
Nicolai Kuß ( COO )
Number of employees 3560 (2017/2018)
sales € 766.5 million (2017/2018)
Branch Meter reading service provider
Website www.techem.de

Head office in Eschborn

The Techem GmbH (own notation: techem ) is a global German energy service provider for the real estate industry and private homeowners with headquarters in Eschborn .

Key figures

Techem is a leading global provider of energy billing and energy management. According to its own information, the company is the market leader in Germany in the field of consumption-based recording and billing of heat and water in real estate. The services range from energy procurement to the recording and billing of heat and water consumption to detailed analyzes. The company headquarters in Eschborn looks after around 60 locations in Germany. Techem is active in a further 20 European countries, as well as in Brazil and the United Arab Emirates.

The company is represented in around 150 branches around the world and records and bills in 11 million households. Techem employs around 3,640 people. Sales for the 2017/2018 financial year were EUR 766.5 million.

Business areas

Energy Services

Services and devices for recording and billing energy and water, energy monitoring and device sales, rental and maintenance. There are around 48 million devices in the billing service, around 28 million of them with wireless technology. Sales in the 2016/2017 financial year amounted to 693.2 million euros.

Energy contracting

Heat, cold and electricity are supplied as well as planning, construction, financing and operation of energy supply systems and the associated recording and billing of energy costs. Sales in the 2016/2017 financial year amounted to 89.5 million euros.

Austria branch

Techem Messtechnik GmbH in Innsbruck

Techem Messtechnik GmbH was founded in 1957 as Universal Wärmetechnik in Innsbruck. In 1979 it was renamed Techem Clorius and moved from the Sankt Nikolaus district to Wilten, to the location of the former Castel Veldidena .

In 2007 Techem Dubai was founded and invested in.

Today the company in Austria with 150 employees looks after around 3 million measuring and recording devices.

In 2017, sales were just under 30 million euros, which puts the company in 207th place in the Tyrolean entrepreneur ranking.

Techem Wassertechnik GmbH was founded in Wels in 1996.

Awards

2016 Techem Austria is the only company to win the Austria's Leading Companies Award in Tyrol in the “Golden Medium-Sized” category .

Ownership

Techem has been owned by a group of investors led by the Swiss Partners Group , which includes the two Canadian pension funds Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ) and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP), since 2018.

history

In 1952 Friedrich Ott founded Techem GmbH in Frankfurt as a company for the evaluation of technical-chemical processes and patents. With a license from a Danish company and three employees, Techem began installing evaporation tubes on heaters in order to enable a fair distribution of costs in apartment buildings. Since the introduction of the Federal Heating Costs Ordinance in 1981, the heating costs for each apartment have to be shown separately in all houses with more than two parties. This leads to a growth spurt at Techem. In 1983 Techem launched the first electronic heat cost allocator (EHKV) on the market. Techem entered the energy contracting market in 1992. In 1996 Techem introduced the radio system for transferring billing data and a leveraged buyout of Techem AG by BC Partner Funds . The financial investor BC Partners bought 55 percent of the shares from the heirs of the late company founder. In 1998, Bautec Energiemanagement GmbH was acquired from the software company Aareon as part of an exchange deal with Techem IT Services GmbH.

initial public offering

2000 Techem went public after being converted into an AG and was included in the MDAX . The founder's family reduced their stake to 25 percent, BC Partners reduced it to 33 percent. In 2001 BC Partners sold all of its shares. In 2002, Computer Wolff GmbH & Co. KG was acquired by Techem and renamed WODIS residential software GmbH. The company moved to the new headquarters in Eschborn. In 2003 Techem was included in the Prime Standard and the new MDAX. In 2004 a subsidiary was founded in the People's Republic of China. Techem took over heimer Concept GmbH in 2005. With the product adapterm, Techem introduced an energy-saving system that actively uses the data from the radio heat cost allocator to save energy . In 2006, the founding family sold their remaining 25 percent stake to various investors. On October 23, 2006, the Australian bank Macquarie submitted a takeover offer and offered shareholders EUR 44 per share. On November 22nd, 2006 management wins BC Partners as an investor, who outbids the Australians with 52 euros per share. On December 11, 2006, Macquarie increased its offer to 55 euros per share, provided that it received at least 70 percent of the shares. With this offer, Techem is valued at 1.36 billion euros. On January 9, 2007, Macquarie signed a framework agreement with Techem management and two days later Macquarie and BC Partners announced that they were jointly acquiring Techem at a price of 55 euros per share. On February 2, 2007: the takeover of Techem finally fails. In 2008, the Australian Macquarie Group became the majority shareholder.

Conversion into GmbH

Techem AG became Techem GmbH in 2009. In 2010 Techem Smart System, an energy management system from Techem Energy Contracting, was introduced. In 2011, a wireless smoke alarm device with environmental monitoring was launched.

Current

Techem was taken over in 2018 by a group of investors led by the Swiss Partners Group , which also includes the two Canadian pension funds Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ) and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP). Techem was valued at EUR 4.6 billion including debt in the transaction. Techem and Vodafone are driving the digitization process forward with intelligently networked systems. The stationary data collectors were replaced by devices with integrated narrowband IoT as part of a joint research project. Each data collector could now transfer the consumption status directly to Techem.

Antitrust aspects of the submetering business

In May 2017, the Federal Cartel Office published a "sector investigation into reading services for heating and water costs" with the result that there are considerable indications of the existence of an uncompetitive oligopoly in the market for reading services for heating and water costs , to which at least the two market leaders Techem and Ista International exist , but possibly also Minol Messtechnik W. Lehmann , Kalorimeta and Brunata-Metrona belong. A few large companies dominate the market for meter reading services for heating and water costs (the two largest providers Techem and Ista together have a 50% market share, the five largest providers together have 70%).

According to the Federal Cartel Office, the existing market structure and competition lead to "restrictions on actual and potential competition. The possibility of the opposite side of the market to switch to other companies is [...] limited." In total, the Federal Cartel Office found "relatively high" returns for the submetering companies, which result from an average turnover per residential unit and year of around EUR 74 (with clear differences between the various providers).

Criticisms of the Federal Cartel Office

The Federal Cartel Office expressed the main points of criticism both at structural features and at certain behaviors of the submetering providers who aim to "make it more difficult for customers to switch providers and are therefore suitable for limiting competition between submetering providers".

  1. Long contract terms , including different calibration periods for different types of meters.
  2. The cost of reading is usually borne by the tenant, the choice and commissioning of the reading service is made by the landlord ("triangular contract"). As a result, the client's price sensitivity is only weak.
  3. The costs of the reading are sometimes difficult or impossible to understand for the user, as they are only shown in aggregated form in the ancillary cost statements.
  4. A change of provider is made difficult by the lack of interoperability of meter systems. Due to legislative interventions, however, there is a trend towards more interoperable systems that could make it easier to switch providers in the future.
  5. A poor comparability of prices and the quality of the services offered makes it difficult to select alternative service providers.
  6. Tacit coordination : In particular, the leading companies Techem and ista have it comparatively easy, due to their position in the market, to reach agreement on the terms of tacit coordination. Among other things, the high degree of concentration, the high stability of demand and the divergence between direct demand and payment flows (triangular contractual relationship) allow uncontrollable room for maneuver, since central competitive parameters such as price setting and changing providers cannot develop their disciplinary effect on the submetering markets to a sufficient extent.
  7. Refusals to deliver accessories and spare parts : In the investigation by the Federal Cartel Office, 46 market participants surveyed stated that in certain cases they had difficulties when a submetering customer wanted to switch from their current provider. These difficulties often consisted of the availability of spare parts for taken over meters.
  8. Use of proprietary software and access to interfaces : Submetering providers usually do not grant their competitors access to the interface of their meters.

Recommendations of the Federal Cartel Office

The Bundeskartellamt recommends the following "measures to stimulate competition in reading services":

  1. promoting the interoperability of meters (approaches for this are already laid out in the MsbG ).
  2. a standardization of the calibration periods and usage periods of the meters so that a submetering customer can switch to another provider as easily as possible after a certain contract period.
  3. Softening the "triangular contractual relationship" (submetering company, submetering customer, user) in order to impose the costs of submetering on the party hiring the submetering company. In addition, improved transparency for tenants through information rights and tendering obligations.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Techem GmbH: What we do - facts & figures. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  2. ↑ a b Techem headquarters: an overview of key figures, data and facts. Fiscal year 2016/17 , accessed on December 11, 2018.
  3. ↑ Coachedian , accessed on 13 December 2018th
  4. ^ Die Presse - ALC , accessed December 13, 2018.
  5. ↑ Tyrol's Top 500 2018 , accessed on December 13, 2018.
  6. ↑ FirmenABC Techem Wassertechnik , accessed on December 11, 2018.
  7. ↑ Congratulations to Austria's Leading Companies In: Wirtschaft Tirol , accessed on December 11, 2018.
  8. ↑ a b Techem changes hands for 4.6 billion euros. manager-magazin.de, May 25, 2018, accessed December 11, 2018.
  9. ↑ a b Second largest German heating reader: Techem sold to Swiss investors In: spiegel.de, May 25, 2018.
  10. ↑ a b Techem: Chronicle of the takeover attempt. In: Manager Magazin. February 2, 2007, accessed June 18, 2016 .
  11. ↑ Takeover battle for Techem broke out. In: FAZ.net , November 22, 2006.
  12. ↑ Australians fail at Techem. Handelsblatt .com, February 2, 2007.
  13. ↑ To the new In: manager-magazin.de , October 22, 2007.
  14. ↑ Compulsory severance payment decided. In: manager-magazin.de , June 5, 2008.
  15. ↑ Narrowband IoT - Techem focuses on energy efficiency. In: vodafone.de
  16. ↑ a b c d Press release: Sector inquiry into meter reading services for heating and water costs. (PDF) Bundeskartellamt, May 4, 2017, accessed on January 4, 2018 .
  17. ↑ a b c d Sector Inquiry into Submetering - Presentation and analysis of the competitive situation in meter reading services for heating and water costs. (PDF) Bundeskartellamt, May 4, 2017, accessed on February 23, 2020 .
  18. ↑ Stefan Buchen: Kartell: How reading services enrich tenants. Norddeutscher Rundfunk - public law institution, July 10, 2019, accessed on February 23, 2020 .