Finatem sells Schollenberger Group to French Socotec

Frank­furt am Main — Fina­tem, a leading inde­pen­dent invest­ment company focu­sing on German medium-sized compa­nies, sells SCHOLLENBERGER Kampf­mit­tel­ber­gung GmbH (“Schol­len­ber­ger” or “Schol­len­ber­ger Group”) to SOCOTEC Group, Guyan­court, France (“SOCOTEC” or “SOCOTEC Group”). The SOCOTEC Group is one of the leading Euro­pean service provi­ders in the field of measu­re­ment, test­ing and certi­fi­ca­tion of cons­truc­tion and infra­struc­ture projects. SOCOTEC gene­ra­tes annual sales of EUR 700 million in 25 count­ries with 200,000 custo­mers and employs around 7,000 people. Dr. Boris Töller and Klaus Löhle will conti­nue to be respon­si­ble for the manage­ment of the Schol­len­ber­ger Group after the take­over by SOCOTEC.

The Schol­len­ber­ger Group, with around 400 employees at its head­quar­ters in Celle and 8 other loca­ti­ons, is the market leader in Germany and Austria in the field of civi­lian explo­sive ordnance dispo­sal. The group offers its custo­mers all services rela­ted to the tech­ni­cal explo­ra­tion and unco­ve­ring of warfare agents in endan­ge­red areas. In Germany and Austria, it is a compul­sory legal obli­ga­tion for the deve­lo­per to ensure that the soil is free of explo­sive ordnance before any work is carried out.

In 2016, the Schol­len­ber­ger Group was acqui­red by Fina­tem and the mana­ging direc­tors of the Schol­len­ber­ger Group Klaus Löhle and Dr. Boris Töller, as part of a manage­ment buy-out from the Celler Brun­nen­bau Group, and was supple­men­ted in 2018 by GeoFact GmbH, Bonn, which specia­li­zes in geophy­si­cal analy­sis services. “Our common goal was to deve­lop Schol­len­ber­ger into the clear market and, above all, quality leader in the field of explo­sive ordnance dispo­sal,” Fina­tem part­ner Eric Jung­blut points out. “Toge­ther with Fina­tem, we at Schol­len­ber­ger have intro­du­ced indus­trial stan­dards in the areas of sales and resource manage­ment and control­ling that are leading and trend-setting in the explo­sive ordnance dispo­sal indus­try,” elabo­ra­tes Dr. Boris Töller, mana­ging part­ner of the Schol­len­ber­ger Group.

“The posi­tive deve­lo­p­ment of the Schol­len­ber­ger Group is another exam­ple of our successful invest­ment and value enhance­ment stra­tegy. We focus our invest­ments on compa­nies with unique selling propo­si­ti­ons and abso­lute quality stan­dards in growing markets, where we see deve­lo­p­ment poten­tial that we can leverage toge­ther,” explains Fina­tem Mana­ging Direc­tor Dr. Robert Hennigs .

The parties have agreed not to disc­lose the details of the transaction.

Company Profile Finatem
As an inde­pen­dent part­­ner-mana­­ged invest­ment company based in Frank­furt, Fina­tem invests in compa­nies with busi­ness acti­vi­ties or know-how, parti­cu­larly in Germany, Austria and Switz­er­land, through majo­rity share­hol­dings. The focus is on medium-sized compa­nies from tradi­tio­nal indus­tries with a sales volume of between EUR 25 million and EUR 125 million and a clear growth poten­tial. With its exis­ting exten­sive natio­nal and inter­na­tio­nal expe­ri­ence in private equity and indus­try, Fina­tem is a relia­ble part­ner for its port­fo­lio compa­nies and supports them in the chal­lenges of market globalization.