Bilfinger

Bilfinger SE

Type	Societas Europaea
Traded as	FWB: GBF
Industry	Engineering and Services
Founded	1880
Headquarters	Mannheim, Germany
Key people	Herbert Bodner(CEO and chairman of the management board), Bernhard Walter (Chairman of the supervisory board)
Revenue	EUR 7.697 billion (2014)[1]
Operating income	EUR 6.8 million (2014)[1]
Profit	EUR -71.4 million (2014)[1]
Total assets	EUR 5.962 billion (2014)[1]
Total equity	EUR 1.917 billion (2014)[1]
Number of employees	69,132(as of December 2014)[2]
Website	www.bilfinger.com

Bilfinger SE (previously named Bilfinger Berger AG) is a European company specialized in civil and industrial construction, engineering and services based in Mannheim, Germany.

History

Head office in Mannheim

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.^[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.^[3] In 1994 the acquisition of Razel Company took place.^[3]

In 2001 the business changed its name to Bilfinger Berger AG.^[3]

In 2005, Bilfinger bought all shares of Babcock Borsig Service Group from Deutsche Beteiligungs.^[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 November 2009 Bilfinger announced that it is considering floating Bilfinger Berger Australia on the Australian Securities Exchange via an initial public offering (IPO).^[8] The prospectus for the IPO for the new Australian entity (named Valemus) was issued in June 2010 and the company was listed on the ASE in July.^[9]

In recent years Bilfinger has shifted the focus of its activities toward the services business. 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.^[10] 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.^[11] In 2010 Bilfinger became a Societas Europaea (SE).^[12]

In December 2014 Bilfinger SE signed a deal to sell the business to Implenia AG leaving the building industry. It had once been Germany's second largest builder.^[13]

Operations

Bilfinger SE is a Deutsche Börse MDAX index traded, international construction and services company that operates in real estate, infrastructure and industrial services. The services offered range from consulting, development, planning, financing and turnkey construction through to maintenance and operation. Bilfinger holds the eighth place in the European ranking of construction companies.^[14]
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.^[15] Thus, in the financial year 2010, around 80 percent of the revenue came from services and the remaining 20 percent from construction activities.^[16]

The global presence of Bilfinger spans five continents with operations in Europe, United States, South East Asia, Africa and Australia.

Business organisation

Bilfinger Logo at the entrance of Head Office

Bilfinger introduced in 2010 a new business structure that is based on the changing priorities of the Group's business and matched it again in 2013.

Industrial

• Industrial Maintenance
• Insulation, Scaffolding and Painting
• Oil and Gas
• Industrial Fabrication and Installation
• Engineering, Automation and Control
• Support Services

Power

• Power Services
• Piping Services

Building and facility

• Building
• Facility Services
• Real Estate
• Water Technologies

Construction

• Construction
• Infrastructure

Ownership structure

Bilfinger is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, is part of the composition of the MDAX and his actions correspond to 'ISIN DE0005909006 (WKN 590900). In recent years the dividend price ratio has been gradually increasing: in 2005 the dividend was €1.00 per share, in 2006 of €1.25, €1.80 in 2007. The dividend yield for fiscal year 2009 amounted to €2.00, for 2010 to €2,50 and in 2011 for €2,50 plus a bonus of €0,90.

At the end of 2011 there were approximately 46,024,000 shares outstanding, representing a market capitalization of EUR 3.032 billion. In late 2011, with a rate of 3,7% of the total, the Bilfinger is one of the largest values in the stock index MDAX Stock Exchange in Germany.

Ownership structure^[17]

Updated to 30 June 2012.

Major projects

Major projects have included the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen completed in 1919,^[18] the Busch Memorial Stadium completed in 1966,^[18] the Munich Olympic Stadium completed in 1972,^[18] the Sydney Opera House completed in 1973,^[18] the Dresdner Bank Tower completed in 1978,^[18] the Oymapinar Dam in Turkey completed 1984,^[18] the Bang Na Expressway completed in 2000,^[19] the Mỹ Thuận Bridge in Vietnam completed in 2000,^[18] the Centennial Bridge over the Panama Canal completed in 2004,^[20] the Svinesund Bridge between Sweden and Norway completed in 2005,^[21] the northern section of the Nuremberg–Munich high-speed railway completed in 2006,^[22] the Golden Ears Bridge near Vancouver in Canada completed in 2009,^[23] the foundations for the London Array completed in 2009,^[24] the Niederfinow Boat Lift in Germany completed in 2014,^[25] restoration and conversion of Sonnenstein Castle in Pirna for the Administration Offices in Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge in Germany completed in 2012,^[26] Block 9 of the Power Station of Mannheim in Germany completed in 2013^[27] and the new line of Edinburgh tramway in Scotland completed in 2014.^[28]

List of major works in progress

• Along with Frutiger AG, Implenia and Impresa Pizzarotti as part of the Transco consortium, construction phase of the Sedrun section of Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland that is due to be completed in 2015;^[29][30]
• Construction of the Düsseldorf Stadtbahn from Düsseldorf-Bilk station to Düsseldorf Wehrhahn station due to be completed in 2015;^[31]
• Construction of the North-South line of Light rail in central Cologne, (Germany) due to be completed in 2017;^[32]
• Construction of the underground rail line S21 between the Berlin Hauptbahnhof and the Berlin North–South mainline in Berlin (Germany) due to be completed in 2017;^[33]
• Construction of the underground rail line U5 between Alexanderplatz and Brandenburg Gate in Berlin (Germany) due to be completed in 2019.^[34]

Controversies

In March 2009, a building collapsed in Cologne due to the nearby construction site for the Cologne Stadtbahn Nord-Süd-Stadtbahn (German). The collapse is suspected to be caused by the construction works, and to several irregularities.^[35][36]

Several other construction projects are suspected to have been conducted with irregularities: the Düsseldorf Stadtbahn Wehrhahn-Linie (German), the Nuremberg–Munich high-speed railway^[35][36] and the Bundesautobahn 1.^[37]

See also

• Babcock Borsig Service
• Bilfinger Deutsche Babcock Middle East

References

Further reading

• Bernhard Stier and Martin Krauß: Drei Wurzeln – ein Unternehmen. 125 Jahre Bilfinger Berger AG. ISBN 3-89735-411-X.

External links

• Official website