History
Origin
Implenia was created out of a series of mergers between Swiss regional construction companies, but ultimately from the 2006 merger of Batigroup and Zschokke Holding.[6]
In mid-1997 Preiswerk Holding AG merged with Schweizerische Strassenbau- und Tiefbau-Unternehmung AG (Stuag) / Stuag Holding AG and Schmalz AG Bauunternehmung / Schmalz Holding AG to form Batigroup Holding based in Basel. Batigroup's core competencies centred on traditional construction activities, including road construction, poured asphalt, civil engineering, tunnel construction and building construction.[7][8]
The basis of Zschokke Holding was the construction company Castor, Hersent et Zschokke, founded in 1872 in Aarau by Conrad Zschokke (1842-1918), which was transferred to the public limited company Conrad Zschokke in 1909.[9][10] Through acquisitions and mergers, in 1982 the joint-stock company Heinr. Hatt-Haller and in 1997 Locher & Cie AG, among others, became part of Zschokke Holding, whose headquarters were most recently in Geneva.[11] In addition to building construction, Zschokke acquired in particular general planning, general contracting and real estate management.[10][12]
Due to the largely complementary business areas, Zschokke and Batigroup began talks about a possible merger in summer 2005. Following these discussions, the intention to merge to form Implenia was announced publicly on 15 November 2005.[13] Finally, the shareholders of Zschokke and Batigroup approved the merger at simultaneous AGMs held on 2 March 2006.[6] ZB Didumos AG, founded as a placeholder company for the future company, was renamed Implenia AG in the course of the merger in 2005. The headquarters of the new company became Zurich.[5]
Implenia AG
The shares of Zschokke and Batigroup were delisted from the SIX Swiss Exchange after close of trading on 3 March 2006. The merger was completed by exchanging shares for the new Implenia shares, the value ratio being set at 65 (Zschokke) to 35 (Batigroup). The first trading day of Implenia shares on the Swiss stock exchange was 6 March 2006.[6]
In 2010, Implenia had acquired the Norwegian Betonmast Anlegg, a Norwegian infrastructure specialist.[14] Since March 2015, the German Bilfinger Construction (now renamed Implenia Construction) with activities in Germany, Austria and Sweden has also been part of the Group.[15] The acquisition of Bilfinger Hochbau followed in 2016.[16]
On 27 October 2020, Implenia announced an accelerated restructuring starting in 2021, marking a break with the construction group's years-long push for internationalization, which it declared over.[17] Its stock market value halved over the past two years, largely due to previous project acquisitions and purchases (such as in Sweden between 2015 and 2017). The company withdrew from unprofitable business areas in some markets (Sweden, Norway and Romania) and has since focused largely on Switzerland and Germany. Here, Implenia is active as a real estate developer and manager, as well as in building construction, civil engineering and specialist businesses such as timber construction and facade technology.[11] In the rest of Europe, the focus is largely on tunnel construction, as in Austria, France, Sweden, Norway and Italy.[18] As part of this accelerated restructuring, Implenia announced plans to lay off around 750 people and cut 2000 fulltime positions by 2023. This transformation was completed ahead of schedule.[17][19]
In May 2021, Implenia completed the acquisition of BAM Swiss AG, a healthcare construction services provider in Switzerland headquartered in Basel.[20] With this acquisition, Implenia took over BAM Swiss AG's current projects such as the planning and realization of the Aarau Cantonal Hospital, the BSSE in Basel – a modern laboratory and research building for biosystems science and engineering – as well as the Felix Platter Hospital project in Basel and an ETH student residence in Zurich.[21][22]
Implenia acquired the leading Swiss real estate service provider Wincasa in May 2023.[23]
Corporate structure
Implenia's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is André Wyss.[24] Also on the Executive Board are Stefan Baumgärtner (CFO), Adrian Wyss (Head Division Real Estate), Jens Vollmar (Head Division Buildings), Christian Späth (Head Division Civil Engineering), Anita Eckardt (Head Division Specialties), Claudia Bidwell (Chief Human Resources Officer) and German Grüniger (General Counsel).[25] Hans-Ulrich Meister is Chairman of the Board of Directors.[20] The company generated sales of CHF 3.6 billion in 2022; it is headquartered in Opfikon, Switzerland.[3] According to a press release, the company employed over 9,000 people in the first half of 2023.[4]
Implenia's business areas are divided into four divisions: Real Estate, Buildings, Civil Engineering and Specialties.[11]
Implenia is also active in the management of properties in Switzerland through its real estate service provider Wincasa.[26]
Controversies
Construction defects at the Letzigrund Stadium in Zurich, which was built by Implenia and still being completed under great time pressure for the 2008 European Soccer Championships, led to ten years of legal proceedings against the company. The starting point was cracks and defective weld seams on the steel girders, which Implenia denied as "scaremongering." However, the city of Zurich feared that the roof posed a danger to spectators and secured the roof with additional supports on the stands at its own expense. The proceedings were resolved in 2021 with a court settlement in which both parties agreed to mutually waive all outstanding claims.[45][46]
CHF 3,563 million (2022)[3]
CHF 138.9 million (2022)[3]
