The German Mittelstand
German SMEs do battle to conquer market Russia
September brings more good news to Germany, world champion exporter. The Statistisches Bundesamt – Federal Bureau of Statistics – reports that for the first time ever, German exports of merchandise for the month of July 2014 were in excess of 1 thousand million Euros, a record amount for one month. This result dovetails with the SME survey conducted shortly beforehand and published by Ernst & Young; the analysis, now in its 12th year, quizzed 700 SMEs, and an unprecedented 56% of those interviewed replied that they were fully satisfied with how their companies were faring.
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Companies
United Internet acquires the rest of Versatel
United Internet has purchased the remaining 74.9 percent of stock from majority shareholder KKR for 586 million Euros in cash. KKR, and its US shareholders walk away with triple the amount they invested. The federal monopolies regulator gave the go-ahead for the TecDAX-listed company to acquire 100% ownership of the Düsseldorf-based company and confirmed that there are no misgivings concerning competition. This transaction makes United Internet proprietor of Germany’s second largest fibre optic network of more than 37,000 kilometres, and now Germany’s second largest ADSL provider. It acquired the brand-names 1&1 and gmx.de., and not only Versatel’s 44.000 broadband customers but also its 361 million Euros of debt. As recently as the end of August, United Internet purcha sed a 10.7 percent stake in stock-exchange newcomer Rocket Internet, for 435 million Euros.
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People
In a communiqué of September 19, Aurubis announced that Peter Willbrandt does not intend to renew his contract when it expires at the end of March 2015. The Hamburg-based copper specialist stated that the CEO, who has been in office since 2012, is resigning for personal reasons. The Supervisory Board began the search for a replacement immediately, but in the event of no suitable candidate being appointed, Supervisory Board member Bernd Drouven could resume the functions of CEO for no more than one year.
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VIPsight France
Pierre-Henri Leroy: The French government misleading information on Air France-KLM
As the main but minority shareholder of the Air France-KLM airline, with 16% of capital and voting rights, the French State is also Director and as such an insider.
But in announcing on September 24 on the radio at 7:40 am, “the Transavia Europe project is abandoned by management,” adding that “the project is not suspended for three months, it is removed,” the French State secretary for transports Alain Vidalies committed an offense of false information: his statement was quickly contradicted a spokesman for the company quoted by the AFP Agency: “We see no change in the negotiations, there is no evidence that this project is removed.”
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