• Rapid integration of both companies set to enable further, strong organic growth – Hiring planned in all operational trades
• Further M&A activities in Germany and rest of Europe planned
• Expertise in ESG, decarbonization, energy management and building digitalization to be further expanded

The two facility and real estate service providers Apleona and Gegenbauer successfully closed their merger as of July 3, 2023. Following approval by all relevant authorities, the operational merger of the two companies to create a European industry leader with 40,000 employees and revenue of EUR 3.5 billion will now be implemented. Moving forward, the Group will operate under the Apleona name for all its divisions. Its core business is integrated facility management with a strong focus on technical building management and the market of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In Germany, Apleona has come out of the merger stronger in terms of its regional coverage and its vertical integration across all services and is now a market leader by a significant margin.

Apleona’s CEO, Dr. Jochen Keysberg, reiterated the facility managment and real estate services group’s ambitious growth strategy for both Germany and Europe. “In Germany, we can now offer our customers comprehensive hard and soft services from a single source. More and more major customers expect us to deliver such integrated services entirely through self delivery,” he said at the time of the closing. Strategic consulting expertise and the ability to deliver on key issues such as ESG, decarbonization, energy management and building digitalization are also vital for strong organic growth in Germany and Europe. Here, too, the existing teams and their skillsets will be further enhanced by targeted investments in “expertise, specialists and shareholdings – including in green or proptech companies and building engineering firms”.

In order to better serve the high demand for integrated building services in Europe as well, the Apleona CEO raised the prospect of further acquisitions to expand the European platform: “On key European FM markets, we will continue to target our own augmentation so as to secure market-leading positions there as well,” he announced. Apleona has already acquired FM companies in Austria, Ireland, the UK and Poland in the past 18 months. Preparations for the integration of the two companies into an even more dynamic organization in Germany are already well underway and will now be implemented at full speed following the successful closing, Dr. Jochen Keysberg announced. The real estate service provider’s absolute priority is the optimal alignment of its service offering with customer requirements.
Moving forward, Apleona’s operating activities will be bundled into four Group divisions. As one of the Group’s COOs, Michael Engel will continue to be in charge of international business in the EMEA region as well as for the business with large customers bundled in the International Corporate Clients (ICC) division. As another Group COO, Christian Kloevekorn is responsible for all soft services (cleaning, security and property services) in Germany. Dr. Gert W. Riegel, a further Group COO, is the Head of integrated and hard Services plus real estate management in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Direct responsibility for building technology and interior fit-out remains with the CEO Dr. Jochen Keysberg. In his role as the Group’s CFO, Dr. Georg J. Fronja is the final member of the five-person executive board of the Apleona Group.