Habegger Group, international service provider for live communication and the German satis&fy AG, leading provider for event and media technology, event architecture and room-in-room solutions, established the holding company «live matters» on the 1st of October.
Under the roof of the holding company, the firms want to push their common vision of «a family of strong brands in the live communication». The goal is to grow to one of the international leading businesses for live communication in the long run. Other goals are the expansion of the brand portfolio and the development of the quality market leadership. satis&fy and Habegger as well as their sub-brands will coexist under this holding company, which owns 100 percent of both organizations’ shares. Members of live matters are Nico Ubenauf, CEO of satis&fy, Simon Ackermann, CEO of Habegger, as well as an industrial holding company which is managed in an entrepreneurial way. Many well-known German family businesses and entrepreneurs belong to this holding company. Ubenauf and Ackermann are going to manage the holding company together at the top as Managing Partners. With a group turnover of more than 140 Million Euros (2016) live matters is already one of the biggest networks in the industry by now and market leader in the DACH region. 700 permanent employees at 12 branches work for the companies of the live matters group.
Co-owner assures lasting growth
«After a long search, we found with the Munich industrial holding company an investor who shares our vision of the family of strong brands, our holistic approach towards the live communication and who helped us to fulfill our long-cherished dream,» Nico Ubenauf, CEO of satis&fy, narrates. «We have been interested in a sustainable solution that assures our business development and continuity for several years and that leads the organizations into the next generations. We have found that now,» the satis&fy executive board adds. Simon Ackermann mentions: «As future sub-company, we expand our fields of competence, which not only puts us in a good position internationally, but it also makes us an attractive, efficient provider at local and regional levels.» Through the co-owner, additional know-how and important impulses for further growth of the group is expected.
Expansion from 2018 on
In the opinion of both CEOs, the co-existence under one roof does not change anything for now. «Of course, we have ideas how the cooperation in the group will look like in the future and what we might do better together than alone. But we don’t want to rush with this decision and it won’t be before 2018 that we really start planning the strategic direction of the holding, that we discuss about expansion plans and identify synergy potentials,» explains Ackermann. Ubenauf adds: «For now, we are just happy that we closed the deal successfully and that we have found a solution for sustainable growth with it.» The idea is to create personnel structures under the holding company’s roof as a next step, which is supposed to push the «family expansion» according to Ubenauf, because «we could well imagine to grow through further shares and to integrate companies that are compatible with us and complement our service portfolio.»
Strengthening the market position through community building
«We already had the idea for live matters more than three years ago,» Simon Ackermann says. In the beginning, the network aspect was of primary importance though. «We wanted to bring different companies and interesting personalities from the live communication together to identify synergies, to support each other with ideas, to work on solutions to problems, to exchange knowledge and consequently to stand up to the changing industry with an elastic community,» the Habegger CEO continues to explain. Little by little, the idea emerged to unite under one shared roof to work more strategically. «We want to closely connect with agencies, suppliers and decision makers, build up a strong network that establishes the label live matters within the industry,» Nico Ubenauf complements. The long lasting and successful cooperation with the AV Alliance, another global union of technical service providers, has motivated the decision to unite under a holding company. A similar cooperative approach as with the AV Alliance would also be possible for live matters. «We will invite important companies and people with whom we could imagine a cooperation in the future. They can also be international companies. Also, they don’t necessarily have to be organizations within the industry. Business areas that are related with the event industry are interesting too», Ackermann explains.
For more information visit www.livematters.net
Contact:
Habegger Group
Nicole Böni
Head of Marketing Communication
Riedthofstrasse 124
CH-8105 Regensdorf
T: +41 43 388 78 50
M: nboeni@habegger.ch
W: www.habegger.ch
