United Economic Services
| vwd United Business Services GmbH
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1949 |
| Seat | Frankfurt am Main , Germany |
| management | Udo Kersting, Christian Mieth |
| Number of employees | 400 (2018) |
| sales | € 80 million (2017) |
| Branch | Economic information |
| Website | www.vwd.com |
The vwd Vereinigte business services GmbH is a European provider of financial information. In the 2016 financial year, vwd employed 450 people in Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland and achieved sales of 80 million euros.
In the vwd Vereinigte Wirtschaftsdienste GmbH as group headquarters, the central tasks of the group are combined in addition to the management. This includes in particular sales, marketing, product management, technology and strategic corporate development. This should enable the subsidiaries to concentrate on their core competencies.
history
On the initiative of the Americans and the British, the United Economic Services GmbH was founded as an independent economic service in 1949 to provide German industry with economic information. Under the direction of Hans Melchers, vwd developed into the central provider of business news and introduced the ticker service in 1965 . H. the messages were transmitted more quickly to the recipient via telex .
In 1980, Reuters left vwd's group of shareholders. Five years later, 29 leading newspaper publishers took part in vwd. The shareholders dpa , business associations and newspaper publishers sold their vwd shares in 1994 to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH, Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt GmbH and Dow Jones Informationsdienste-Beteiligungs-GmbH. vwd realigned itself strategically and developed from a news service to a provider of financial information solutions. In spring 2004, vwd merged with five industry-relevant companies to form the vwd group.
As part of a management buy-in , a group of investors led by Edmund J. Keferstein took over all shares in vwd Vereinigte Wirtschaftsdienste GmbH from Dow Jones Informationsdienste-Beteiligungs-GmbH, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH and Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt GmbH. The shareholders at the time were CornerstoneCapital Beteiligungs GmbH, DAH Beteiligungs GmbH of the Hopp family , Edmund J. Keferstein and Spencer Bosse.
At the same time, Dow Jones took over the approximately 100 editors, correspondents and the sales people and technicians responsible for the news business from vwd. The news business was bundled in Dow Jones News GmbH in Frankfurt.
After the acquisition of the majority of shares in bis börseninformationssysteme AG in 2005 and the merger of vwd Vereinigte Wirtschaftsdienste GmbH with bis börseninformationssysteme AG in 2007, the former group managed by vwd Vereinigte Wirtschaftsdienste GmbH was completely absorbed by bis AG and is now part of the vwd Vereinigte Wirtschaftsdienste AG. The vwd group has been listed on the stock exchange since July 2007.
In 2011, the wholly owned subsidiary market maker Software AG from Kaiserslautern was merged with vwd Vereinigte Wirtschaftsdienste AG.
In July 2011, the vwd group expanded its business to Italy. As an outsourcing partner for the financial information business of Il Sole 24 Ore SpA, the vwd group initially provides various technical services in order to introduce the vwd product world based on the latest technology and a significantly larger data universe in the Italian market.
In 2012, VWD was acquired by the private equity investment fund Carlyle Group . In 2013, the company cut 10% of its workforce, and in 2014 it went public after a squeeze-out was enforced in court . In October 2014, the company was converted into a GmbH.
Corporate management
- Udo Kersting, Chief Revenue Officer . As CRO, Kersting has been responsible for sales, marketing, consulting, services and support since April 2017. In October 2014 he was appointed to the management of vwd Vereinigte Wirtschaftsdienste GmbH. As Chief Product Officer, he was responsible for developing the product vision and the product roadmap of the vwd group. Kersting is an expert in capital market business and processes in the securities business. As a former member of the Capital Markets Divisional Board at WestLB AG and its successor organization Portigon, he was responsible for the Certificates, Equity Derivatives and Equities business areas. From 2013 Kersting was a partner in the consulting company stratec consultants GmbH with a focus on process optimization and strategic alignment of the securities business in banks.
- Björn Döhrer, Chief Product Officer . Döhrer has been CPO of vwd Vereinigte Wirtschaftsdienste GmbH since May 2017 and is responsible for the product roadmap and product development. He is co-founder and board member of EDG AG and is responsible for the areas of sales and product management. Before that, Döhrer was responsible for the conception and implementation of strategic projects as a product strategist. Among other things, he designed the regulatory solutions for the PRIIPs and MiFID II regulation as well as the digitization solutions of the vwd group. He managed various major projects for well-known customers, for example the introduction of a uniform risk classification in the securities business of various banks with affiliated sales units. Döhrern is considered an expert on regulatory issues and the author of various statements and studies on the topics of "future of investment advice" and "regulation of the securities business".
- Christian Mieth, Chief Financial Officer . As CFO, Mieth has been responsible for the finance department of the vwd group since May 2017. He has been with the company since 2011 and, as the commercial division manager, has helped shape and was responsible for financial transactions and projects in the group of companies. Mieth began his professional career in auditing at Deloitte and then worked for several years in the automotive industry as commercial manager for Hyundai Motor Germany and SUBARU Germany. Mieth completed his academic training in economics in Great Britain.
Group structure
The following companies belong to the group of companies :
- vwd information solutions AG (formerly: FIDES Information Services AG) (100%)
- vwd group Italia SrL (100%)
- vwd group Netherlands BV (formerly: Tijd Beursmedia) (100%)
- vwd group Belgium NV (formerly: Tijd Beursmedia) (100%)
- vwd PortfolioNet Service AG (formerly: PC&S Portfolio Services & Consulting AG) (100%)
- vwd finaix solutions GmbH (100%)
- vwd Luxembourg sarl (100%)
- vwd TransactionSolutions AG (60%)
- Lenz + Partner AG (100%)
- EDG group of companies (100%)
vwd group business areas
- The Market Data Solutions business area provides a range of market data systems, browser-based applications and portfolio management solutions for users in banks, savings banks, asset management companies and companies.
- The Technology Solutions division offers information, technology and transaction solutions as well as consulting services for customer-specific requirements of the financial community. These include a. the conception and implementation of professional websites for banks, online brokers and the media. The core competencies in this business area also include the conception and provision of ready-to-print course parts for almost 50 daily newspapers and financial magazines. As an Application Services Provider (ASP), the vwd group not only designs the financial solutions for the intranet and advertising, but also takes care of hosting in its own data center if required.
- The third business area, Specialized Market Solutions, offers publication and communication concepts in the financial media . These include special forms of advertising for products from issuers, the advertising industry and for the distribution of financial and price information for financial service providers and issuing houses via classic print media, online, mobile or via teletext. The focus is on funds and derivatives.