EnBW Group continues to reduce portfolio complexity and reorganises sales operations
Deconsolidation of 113 companies including Apcoa
- Withdrawal from the Thermoselect project in Karlsruhe
- EnBW subsidiary Salamander to sell Apcoa to Investcorp
- New organisation to optimise value added chain
- Reorganisation of sales operations
Karlsruhe. The Management Board of EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG has decided to withdraw from the Thermoselect project in Karlsruhe. Operation of the plant is to be terminated as soon as possible. The main reason for this decision is that it is not possible to guarantee economically feasible continued operation of the plant despite the upgrading concept drawn up in the second half of 2003. Despite further necessary upgrade investments, the plant could only be operated in the longer term at considerable risk which EnBW cannot take on board, says Prof. Dr. Thomas Hartkopf, Technical Director on the Management Board of EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG. The decision of the Board is supported by external expert opinions.
Another key factor in this decision was the demand of the four municipal disposal partners for a 20-year disposal guarantee from EnBW in the event of continued operation regardless of the technical success of the upgrading programme. EnBW is now engaged in talks with these partners with the aim of arriving at a consensus decision on termination of the related contractual obligations. The technicalities and specific date for the termination of plant operation will be therefore not be laid down until these negotiations have been completed.
EnBW subsidiary Salamander agrees to sell Apcoa to Investcorp
The leading European service provider in the carpark sector, APCOA AG, will soon have a new owner. The company, currently a part of the Salamander Group, which in turn belongs to EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG, is to be sold to Investcorp, a leading London-based private equity company. The deal still has to be approved by the supervisory boards at Salamander AG and Investcorp. The relevant bodies in the EnBW Group have already approved the sale of APCOA AG. The final round of negotiations on the purchase agreement are to be completed in the coming weeks. The parties have agreed to keep the purchase price confidential.
Investcorp successfully made its bid against competition from numerous German and foreign financial investors. With the forthcoming sale of its last major holding, Salamander AG will make a major contribution towards the streamlining of parent company EnBW.
New organisation to optimise value added chain
While the pruning of the EnBW holding portfolio is primarily geared towards reducing the overall complexity of the Group, the reorganisation of the core EnBW companies is designed to optimise the internal value added chains. To this end, the operating processes of the various EnBW companies are to be streamlined across the board and coordination between the individual EnBW companies improved. In addition, clearer management structures will be introduced to accelerate decision-making and coordination processes, increase the flexibility of EnBW, and ensure a more consistent corporate image of the overall Group vis-à-vis the public at large. In order to achieve these goals, the core companies will be systematically organised along the value added chain "generation - trading - transport/distribution - sales/end customers". This process will also include the merging of the former end customer- and sales-oriented EnBW Kundenservice GmbH and EnBW Energie Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH to form a new sales and service company. This company will in future be responsible for sales, products and pricing, logistics and billing as well as for the implementation of customer relationship management strategy.
The Yello brand will remain legally independent but will, however, be more closely integrated in the new sales and service company in order to promote the generation of synergies.
EnBW Holding will in future also play a greater role as an operational holding company and act as the central point of strategic control and coordination for the group companies in the core business field.
The new logical structures with clear lines of responsibility will promote the cultural transformation of EnBW into a target- and performance-oriented provider to ensure its survival and success in the competitive arena.
Profitable growth and customer orientation as the basis for reorganisation of sales operations
By pursuing a strategy of closer integration of strategic and operational management, EnBW intends to reorganise its sales and marketing operations, continuing to set new market benchmarks in terms of acquisition strength, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and corporate management.
At Yello Strom, EnBW aims to reduce sales costs by over 30 percent and sales-related personnel costs by more than 20 percent by the end of 2004. EnBW now expects Yello Strom to post a breakeven-to-positive EBT in 2004. This goal is also to be achieved through the implementation of an optimised regional pricing model.
The "Naturenergie" brand will be integrated in the national sales organisation of EnBW, which will continue to market it as a product line. EnBW will substantially extend its service and product range for electricity from renewables, in particular through investment in the expansion of hydroelectric power as the most effective and reliable form of generation in the renewables segment. The new construction and extension of Europe's oldest run-of-river power station in Rheinfelden in southern Baden on the High Rhine is the biggest construction project in the field of renewables anywhere in Germany.