Bilfinger SE (previously named Bilfinger Berger AG) is a European multinational company specialized in civil and industrial construction, engineering and services based in Mannheim, Germany.
 | |
| Company type | Societas Europaea |
|---|---|
| FWB: GBF | |
| ISIN | DE0005909006  |
| Industry | Engineering and Services |
| Predecessor | Julius Berger Tiefbau |
| Founded | 1880 |
| Founder | Paul Bilfinger |
| Headquarters | Mannheim, Germany |
Key people | Eckhard Cordes (Chairman of the supervisory board) Thomas Schulz (CEO) |
| Revenue |  €3,737.4 million (2021)[1] |
| €121.2 million (2021)[1] | |
| €123.4 million (2021)[1] | |
Number of employees | 29,756 (2021)[1] |
| Website | www.bilfinger.com |
History
edit
Bilfinger dates back to 1880 when August Bernatz founded Bernatz Ingenieurwissenschaft as an engineering business: it became known, from 1886 as Bernatz & Grün and, from 1892, as Grün & Bilfinger when Paul Bilfinger replaced Bernatz as partner.[2]
During the Second World War, Grün & Bilfinger employed Jewish slave laborers from the Kovno Ghetto in occupied Lithuania where it was known for its brutal harassment of the Jewish slaves.[3]
In 1970, Grün & Bilfinger acquired a majority stake in Julius Berger-Bauboag AG, itself a merger of two companies, Julius Berger Tiefbau AG and Berlinische Boden-Gesellschaft AG, both founded in 1890. The combined business, fully integrated in 1975, finally took the name Bilfinger & Berger Bauaktiengesellschaft.[2] In 1994 the acquisition of Razel Company took place.[2]
In 2001 the business changed its name to Bilfinger Berger AG.[2]
In 2005, Bilfinger bought all shares of Babcock Borsig Service Group from Deutsche Beteiligungs AG.[4][5]
In 2008 the company sold Razel to group Fayat for 137 million euro.[6]
In October 2009 the company acquired directly MCE Beteiligungsverwaltungs GmbH itself, a business based in Linz focused on the design, construction and maintenance of facilities in the process industry and the energy sector.[7]
In June 2010, a prospectus was issued with the aim of listing Bilfinger Berger Australia on the Australian Securities Exchange via an initial public offering.[8] In July 2010 the listing was abandoned with a trade sale to Lendlease agreed in December 2010.[9][10]
In 2010, services contributed to 80% of the company's total output volume of €8,123 million and EBIT for the services division amounted to €297 million.[11] In November 2011, Bilfinger acquired 98 percent of shares in Neo Structo Construction Private Ltd., located in Surat, India, for a purchase price of €47 million.[12] In 2010 Bilfinger became a Societas Europaea (SE).[13]
In December 2014 Bilfinger signed a deal to sell the construction division to Switzerland's Implenia AG. It had once been Germany's second largest builder.[14]
In June 2016 Bilfinger announced the sale of the facilities management and real estate business to Swedish financial investor EQT.[15]
In February 2018 the company announced that it would seek damages from the former directors of the company after alleged breaches in compliance and a series of acquisitions that failed to create shareholder value.[16] After securing shareholder consent in June 2020, Bilfinger reached a settlement with the former Executive Board members. The settlement with a total volume of €18.2 million ends the assertion of claims of for damages by Bilfinger.[17]
Operations
edit
Bilfinger SE is a Deutsche Börse SDAX index traded, leading international industrial services provider. The portfolio covers the entire value chain from consulting, engineering, manufacturing, assembly, maintenance, plant expansion as well as turnarounds and also includes environmental technologies and digital applications.[18]
Bilfinger, as a result of numerous acquisitions and disposals, is no longer a traditional construction company but instead a provider of services for industrial plants, power plants and real estate.[19] In financial year 2019, revenues came from industrial and engineering services in the Chemical & Petrochemical (30%), Energy & Utilities (15%), Oil & Gas (30%), Pharma & Biopharma (10%), Metallurgy (5%) and Cement/Other (10%) industries.[20]
Ownership
editThe ownership of the business as at 31 December 2019 was as follows:[21]
| Percentage | Investor |
|---|---|
| 74.3% | Institutional Investors |
| 16.9% | Undisclosed |
| 8.9% | Treasury Shares |
| 26.8% | Cevian Capital |
| 14.4 % | Institutional Investors Germany |
| 10.9% | Institutional Investors UK |
| 9.4 % | Institutional Investors USA |
| 4.7 % | Institutional Investors Switzerland |
| 3.9 % | Institutional Investors Scandinavia |
| 2.6% | Institutional Investors Spain |
| 1.2% | Institutional Investors France |
| 2.3% | Other Institutional Investors |
Major projects
editMajor projects have included:
- Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen completed in 1919[22]
- Busch Memorial Stadium completed in 1966[22]
- Munich Olympic Stadium completed in 1972[22]
- Dresdner Bank Tower completed in 1978,[22]
- Oymapinar Dam in Turkey completed in 1984[22]
- Bang Na Expressway completed in 2000[23]
- Blue Line in Bangkok completed in 2004,[24]
- Centennial Bridge over the Panama Canal completed in 2004,[25]
- Svinesund Bridge between Sweden and Norway completed in 2005[26]
- expansion of the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital completed in 2005,[27]
- northern section of the Nuremberg–Munich high-speed railway completed in 2006[28]
- Golden Ears Bridge near Vancouver in Canada completed in 2009,[29]
- foundations for the London Array completed in 2009[30]
- Niederfinow Boat Lift in Germany completed in 2014[31]
- restoration and conversion of Sonnenstein Castle in Pirna for the Administration Offices in Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge in Germany completed in 2012[32]
- Block 9 of the Power station of Mannheim in Germany completed in 2013[33]
- Edinburgh Trams line in Scotland completed in 2014[34]
- North-South line of Cologne Stadtbahn in Germany completed in 2015[35]
- Sedrun section of Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland (along with Frutiger AG, Implenia and Impresa Pizzarotti as part of the Transco consortium) completed in 2016[36][37]
- Düsseldorf Stadtbahn from Düsseldorf-Bilk station to Düsseldorf Wehrhahn station completed in 2016[38]
Controversies
editIn March 2009, a building collapsed in Cologne due to the nearby construction site for the Cologne Stadtbahn Nord-Süd-Stadtbahn (in German). The collapse is suspected to be caused by the construction works, and to several irregularities.[39][40] In June 2020, Bilfinger reached an out-of-court agreement that settles all civil claims arising from the collapse of the city’s municipal archive building.[41]
Several other construction projects are suspected to have been conducted with irregularities: the Düsseldorf Stadtbahn Wehrhahn-Linie (in German), the Nuremberg–Munich high-speed railway[39][40] and the Bundesautobahn 1.[42]
In November 2018, Bilfinger was sued by Christopher Steele, who alleged that the company owed €150,000 for an investigation into Bilfinger's activities in Nigeria and Sakhalin.[43]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d "Annual Report 2021" (PDF). Bilfinger. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
- ^ a b c d "Bilfinger - der internationale Engineering- und Servicekonzern - Bilfinger SE". bilfingerberger.com. 10 July 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
- ^ Tauber, Joachim (2015). Arbeit als Hoffnung: jüdische Ghettos in Litauen 1941-1944. Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg. p. 187. ISBN 978-3110414769.
- ^ "Bilfinger Berger is the new strategic investor". 2005-06-23. Retrieved 2010-07-08.
- ^ "Deutsche Beteiligungs AG Divests Babcock Borsig Service". PRNewswire. 2005-03-09. Retrieved 2010-07-09.
- ^ FAYAT SA acquires Razel SA from Bilfinger Berger AG Archived 2009-10-21 at the Wayback Machine Thomson M&A, 20 October 2008
- ^ Bilfinger Offers Remedies in European Union Review of MCE Deal Archived 2011-07-23 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ German giant Bilfinger pushes ahead with float ABC News 9 June 2010
- ^ Bilfinger Berger postpones Valemus IPO The Age 6 July 2010
- ^ Lend Lease to acquire leading Australian engineering and construction businesses Lend Lease 21 December 2010
- ^ Bilfinger SE: Annual Report 2010, accessdate: 25. August 2011
- ^ German Bilfinger Berger Acquires Surat Based Neo Structo Construction Archived 2011-11-26 at the Wayback Machine All Voices, 24 November 2011
- ^ Advising Bilfinger on transformation into SE[permanent dead link] Allen & Overy, 15 April 2010
- ^ "Bilfinger Seals $282 Million Sale to Implenia to Exit Building". Bloomberg. 14 December 2014. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
- ^ "EQT buys Bilfinger's building and facility division". FMJ. 3 June 2016. Archived from the original on 11 August 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "Bilfinger to seek compliance damages from former executives". Euro News. 20 February 2018. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "Bilfinger Shareholders Approve Settlement With Former Executive Board Members". FinanzNachrichten. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
- ^ Bilfinger company profile 28. March 2017
- ^ n-tv online, Abkehr vom Baugeschäft: Bilfinger Berger im Umbruch (13. März 2011), zuletzt retrieved, 24 August 2011
- ^ "Reporting Factbook" (PDF). Bilfinger SE. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
- ^ "Reporting Factbook" (PDF). Bilfinger SE. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e "Bilfinger - der internationale Engineering- und Servicekonzern - Bilfinger SE". bilfingerberger.com. 10 July 2015. Archived from the original on 24 March 2010. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
- ^ Brockmann, Christian; Horst Rogenhofer (January–February 2000). "Bang Na Expressway, Bangkok, Thailand—World's Longest Bridge and Largest Precasting Operation" (PDF). PCI Journal. 45 (1): 26–38. doi:10.15554/pcij.01012000.26.38. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-16. Retrieved 2008-07-19.
- ^ "Thailand starts digging tunnels for 1st Bangkok subway. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 2024-05-18.
- ^ "Second Bridge over the Panama Canal". Retrieved 5 December 2015.
- ^ "Bilfinger - der internationale Engineering- und Servicekonzern - Bilfinger SE". bilfingerberger.com. 10 July 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
- ^ "Bilfinger wins reprieved hospital project". Construction News. 26 July 2001. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
- ^ "Nuremberg–Munich high-speed railway" (PDF). Mega project. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
- ^ Golden Ears Bridge at Structurae
- ^ "London Array contract awarded to Bilfinger Berger". IJ Global. 4 November 2009. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
- ^ "German Ship Lift Rebuilt as Stimulus Floods Waterways (Update1)". bloomberg.com. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
- ^ German Construction Will See Contraction Ease in 2010 Archived 2011-07-23 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Elin Motoren. "ELIN Motoren". elinmotoren.at. Archived from the original on 11 November 2013. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
- ^ Transport Initiatives Edinburgh Press Release Archived 2011-10-06 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "KÖLN Nord-Süd-Stadtbahn". Schwandl. 15 December 2015. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
- ^ Transco website Archived 2010-05-29 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Booth, Martina (29 April 2010). "Gotthard: A titanic tunnel". New Civil Engineer. EMAP Publishing Limited. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
- ^ "Bilfinger Berger completes phase I of Düsseldorf rail line". World Construction Network. 22 September 2010. Retrieved 14 July 2015.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b "Les combines des chantiers du métro minent le vieux Cologne". La Croix (in French). La-Croix.com. 3 March 2010. Retrieved 2013-06-10.
- ^ a b "En Allemagne, les graves malversations du numéro deux du BTP font scandale". Le Monde.fr (in French). Lemonde.fr. 2 March 2010. Retrieved 2013-06-10.
- ^ "Three big contractors agree €600m settlement for fatal collapse of Cologne archives building". Global Construction Review. July 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
- ^ "Crumbling A1 motorway casts shadow on construction firm - The Local". Thelocal.de. Retrieved 2013-06-10.
- ^ Harding, Luke (November 8, 2018). "Trump dossier author suing engineering firm for alleged unpaid work". The Guardian.
Further reading
edit- Bernhard Stier and Martin Krauß: Drei Wurzeln – ein Unternehmen. 125 Jahre Bilfinger Berger AG. ISBN 3-89735-411-X.