ARQUES Austria takes over internationally operating Rohé Group

The transaction is subject to the approval of the relevant cartel authorities. The parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price. "With this acquisition ARQUES has shown that transactions of €100 million and more belong to normal business practice nowadays, referring to the previously acquired Schöps Group. Therefore considerably larger takeovers with sales volumes of more than €1 billion are conceivable in the near future," said Dr. Martin Vorderwülbecke, ARQUES Industries AG executive board chairman.

Rohé, founded in Germany in 1949, is the largest independent, internationally operating service provider for filling stations in Europe. Rohé specializes in the building, installation and maintenance of hydraulic, electric and electronic systems for filling stations and car wash facilities. The group generated revenues of more than €100 million in 2006 with more than 1,000 employees. Revenues and results are to be significantly increased within the coming years. Rohé is represented in 19 countries with own subsidiaries and a total of more than 50 branches. Aside from Germany and Austria, the geographical focus lies on the growth markets in Eastern Europe, South-Eastern Europe and the former CIS states. The service provider maintains more than 10,000 filling stations and more than 3,000 car wash facilities. Rohé's longstanding customers include large international oil companies.

ARQUES subsidiary manager, Jan Satek, who has already successfully restructured another ARQUES subsidiary, the plant manufacturer Hottinger, and Michael Wieser will be appointed managing directors of Rohé to supplement the existing management. ARQUES sees large optimization potential in the operational processes, in particular within the entire logistics. "We are convinced that the strategic added value resulting from ARQUES" restructuring and Eastern Europe know-how combined with the technological expertise of the Rohé group will continue to develop the leading role in the Central and Eastern European growth markets and to further establish Rohé's position as market leader", Jan Satek said. The take over of Rohé is already the eighth ARQUES group transaction in 2007. ARQUES has acquired companies with a sales volume totaling more than €400 million. ARQUES furthermore expects to report consolidated revenues of at least €1.5 billion for the current financial year. (petrolplaza.com)