SOCOTEC acquires Schollenberger Kampfmittelbergung GmbH

08.11.2018
Photo: Roman Thomas

The transaction is the eight acquisition in 2018. By this step, SOCOTEC has doubled its sales in Germany to over EUR 80 million and is fast evolving into a major TIC player in the country.

The SOCOTEC Group as a major provider of TIC (Testing, Inspection, Certification) services is strengthening its presence in Germany by taking over Schollenberger, the German market leader for explosive ordnance detection. The seller was Finatem, an independent private equity company focused on German SMEs.
Schollenberger was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Celle, Lower Saxony. Managed by Klaus Löhle and Dr. Boris Töller the company is specialized in civil explosive ordnance detection on land and on the water. Schollenberger’s expertise and experience is especially in depth detection and surface detection, as well as earth sieving and on-water detection.
As the Austrian and German market leader in the explosive ordnance detection segment for buildings and infrastructure, Schollenberger has a payroll of 400 at ten locations in the two countries. The company booked 2018 sales of approx. EUR 40 million.

As the main player in TIC for the construction and infrastructure sector, in 2018 SOCOTEC booked group sales in excess of EUR 700 million in 2018 with 200,000 clients. The group is active in 25 countries and has a payroll of over 7,000. In Germany, SOCOTEC has since 2008 operated through Canzler GmbH, a company specialized in consultancy, planning, inspection and project management services for the property / real estate sector. SOCOTEC entered the German infrastructure and energy market in 2017 when it acquired a stake in ZPP Inge­nieure AG, a providers of services in the fields of consultancy, planning, testing and inspection for buildings.
With the acquisition of Schollenberger SOCOTEC is fast emerging as a major Germany TIC provider in the construction, property and infrastructure segments: with 800 staff members across 17 locations it books sales of over EUR 80 million.

Hervé Montjotin, CEO of the SOCOTEC Group, states: “We are very pleased to welcome Schollenberger with its strong and recognized technical expertise on board at the SOCOTEC Group. By virtue of this step, SOCOTEC is establishing a third pillar of operation in Germany with the detection and testing services Schollenberger offers. It is a good complement to our existing planning and inspection services in the fields of infrastructure (ZPP Inge­nieure) and properties (CANZLER). It will enable us to become a powerful TIC player and reliable partner in the German market – with a claim that sets us apart from the typical engineering corporations. This is an important step to achieve the Group’s sales target of EUR 800 million in 2020 and strengthens our four European platforms (France, Great Britain, Germany and Italy).”
Boris Töller, MD of Schollenberger, adds: “We are gratified to have SOCOTEC and its outstanding experience at our side, in particular for our infrastructure services and international business.” “In this way, we will continue on course for expansion and advance the SOCOTEC Group activities in the fields of detection and testing in Germany,” adds Klaus Löhle, Schollenberger’s other MD.