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Hochtief Aktiengesellschaft is a listed German construction company headquartered in Essen, NorthRhein-Westphalia, Germany. Hochtief is one of the most international construction companies in the world,[2] with 95% of total sales coming from operations outside Germany. In Australia, Hochtief is the market leader through its publicly traded subsidiary, Leighton. In the USA, Hochtief is a leading civil engineering company via its subsidiary Turner. With Flatiron, the group ranks as one of the most important players in the area of transportation infrastructure. Since 2011, the Spanish Grupo ACS has held a majority holding in the company.

==Products and services==
Hochtief carries out infrastructure projects around the world, some of which are part of concession arrangements and public-private partnerships. The company's core competence is construction. In 2013, the company no longer considered itself as a company providing services across the entire value chain of planning, financing, construction and operation. Instead it then concentrated on building transportation and energy infrastructure as well as social/urban infrastructure and mining.[3][4] In Australia, Hochtief is the market leader through its listed subsidiary, Leighton. Hochtief operates in the US general construction market via its subsidiary, Turner.

===Urban and social infrastructure===

The company develops and builds neighborhoods and quarters, including residential properties and retirement properties with shops, offices and leisure facilities. In addition, Hochtief builds pure-play office space commercial and industry properties, event facilities, shopping centers and hotels.[5] Hochtief constructs and operates administration buildings, schools, universities, barracks and town halls, as part of public-private partnership programs in Europe, Canada and the USA.[6][7]

===Energy infrastructure===

Alongside the construction of power plants, geothermal and hydro-electric power plants, Hochtief provides construction services for offshore wind farms using jack-up vessels and jack-up rigs, including Thor, Innovation and Vidar. Its responsibilities cover transporting and erecting the wind farms. Furthermore, the company plans offshore wind farms, constructs pumped-storage hydroelectricity plants and has established a subsidiary for constructing power lines.[6][8][9]

===Transport Infrastructure===

Hochtief constructs bridges, railroads and train stations, airports and sea ports, roads, tunnels and highways both in Germany and internationally, in some cases as part of concession arrangements such as public-private partnerships.[6]

===Mining===

Hochtief operates in the mining sector via the Leighton Group, the largest contract miner in the world. Contract mining means taking over and operating a mine on behalf of the mine's owner. This can include planning and establishing the mine, exploiting and transporting the raw materials, operating the mine including technical services for equipment, building required transportation as well as final dismantling and land restoration.[6]

==History==

===Early years===

The company was founded in 1873 by the Kelsterbach-born brothers Philipp Helfmann (bricklayer) and Balthasar Helfmann (metal worker) in Frankfurt am Main as Gebrüder Helfmann.[10] Five years later, in 1878, the Helfmann brothers obtained their first major contract, for the University of Giessen.[11] Shortly after the death of Balthasar, Philipp converted the company into a joint stock corporation in 1896, Aktiengesellschaft für Hoch- und Tiefbauten ("Construction and Civil Engineering Corporation"). The company's headquarters were moved in 1922 to Essen.[12] The reason for this was a contract signed with Hugo Stinnes on February 10, 1921. Stinnes took a holding in Hochtief and planned in return to use Hochtief for all his construction projects.[A 1] Following Stinnes' death in 1924 and the collapse of this industrial empire, Hochtief also found itself in financial difficulties. Hyperinflation also had a very negative on the construction sector. Hochtief shares owned by the Stinnes company were subsequently acquired by RWE and AEG.

===Hochtief under National Socialism===

From 1933, Hochtief was also ensnared in the structures of National Socialism. The CEO, Eugen Vögler, joined the NSDAP in 1937 and became leader of the "Construction Industry Business Group" and took a position in the Hitler Youth. Hochtief had expelled Jewish members from the Supervisory Board and all other positions of responsibility in 1935.
As a construction company, Hochtief profited from the economic recovery and vast public works programs. This began with civil properties such as expanding the German Autobahn, as well as the Congress Hall and the German stadium on the Nazi party rally grounds in Nuremberg. Starting in 1937, Hochtief worked on the construction of the Second Siegfried Line in a project managed by the Todt Organization and subsequently participated in the construction of the Führerbunker[13] and major military installations. From 1939/1940, the firm began to use forced labor extensively on its projects.
The company states it has investigated its history during the period of National Socialism self-critically and published it in a book in 2000.[14]
Revival and recent history

===1945 – 1966===


Following Germany's collapse in 1945, Hochtief suffered not only from the loss of its branches in East Germany, but also its international business. Work continued under the aegis of the new CEO, Artur Konrad. The Wirtschaftswunder began with the reconstruction of Germany, which saw large profits for the construction industry as a result of the widespread destruction. For Hochtief the years following the monetary reform in 1948 were those of the economic miracle. As early as the start of the 1950s, Hochtief had begun rebuilding its business outside Germany. Some of the first foreign contracts after the Second World War included a series of energy infrastructure projects in Turkey and bridges and smelting works in Egypt. From 1951 to 1952, Hochtief's first post-Second World War foreign project was the construction of the bridge over the Nile at Mansourah, in Egypt. In 1952, construction began on the Sariyar hydroelectric power plant, and in 1953 on the Izmir power station. In 1954, HOCHTIEF participated in a harbor-building company in Kandla, India. A high-profile success for the company was moving the Abu Simbel temple complex (November 1963 to September 1968) and the Temple of Kalabsha (1961 to 1963).[15] This UNESCO World Heritage Site had to be moved as a result of the construction of the Aswan High Dam.[16][17][18][19]

===1966 – 1989===

The focus of the company began to move away from pure-play construction towards more turnkey work and services, for example, the Hilton Hotel in Athens. However, up until the mid 1970s business outside Germany represented only a small part of operations. Most orders during this period were domestic, driven by Germany's economic boom, with a particular strength in building power stations. This included the construction of the Federal Republic of Germany's first nuclear power plant, Kahl Nuclear Power Plant, near Dettingen am Main, in Bavaria. The boiling water reactor nuclear power plant was the first commercial nuclear power plant in West Germany. The power plant was commissioned by RWE and Bayernwerk and constructed by AEG, with General Electric as licenser and as contractor for the boiling water reactor. The nuclear power plant went into operation on November 13, 1960 and began to feed electricity into the grid on June 17, 1961. At the same time, the company also undertook transport infrastructure projects in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Hernandarias Subfluvial Tunnel in Argentina, the New Elbe Tunnel in Hamburg and the Bosporus Bridge in Istanbul. Following the 1973 oil crisis, the company profited from the unexpected wealth of the oil exporting countries. Hochtief implemented what had been its largest contract with the turnkey construction of King Abdulaziz International Airport in Dschidda, the largest airport in Saudi Arabia. As a result, work outside Germany accounted for more than 50% of Hochtief's business for the first time in 1980. Only by increasing domestic business did the company maintain stability. This was due to major projects completed in the 1980s.

===1990 – 2007===

Following German reunification, the company profited from an upturn in construction. However, from 1993, it was exposed to increased competitive pressure as the economy weakened. At that time, the company, initially under Hans-Peter Keitel, then later Herbert Lütkestratkötter, introduced a new strategy. This covered all aspects of the value chain, including planning, financing, construction and service provision. Acquisitions were made accordingly, and new business activities were opened up. In order to handle these business activities, Hochtief established new businesses.
•    1991 - Project development
•    1996 - Facility management
•    1997 - Airport management
•    2002 - Infrastructure development and financing
The company also expanded on the basis of international acquisitions:
•    2000 - Turner Corporation, USA (100%)
•    2001 - Leighton Holdings, Australia


In 2004, Hochtief was converted from a subsidiary into a public company.With majority shareholder RWE selling its shares, Hochtief received a new international shareholder structure. At the end of the 2004 fiscal year, more than 80% of shares were in the free float. In 2004, through the purchase of service companies Siemens Facility Management and Lufthansa Facility Management, the Hochtief Facility Management subsidiary increased in size from 800 employees to approximately 4,500 employees . In 2007, civil engineering company Flatiron, a leading provider for infrastructure projects, in the USA, was acquired. The company also gained a foothold in the Gulf region: HOCHTIEF has been represented for some years in the Gulf States through the Habtoor Leighton Group, a Leighton subsidiary.

===Loss of independence===

At the beginning of 2006, August von Finck acquired a 25.01% share of via his company, Custodia Holding. In March 2007, the Spanish construction group Actividades de Construcción y Servicios (ACS) acquired Custodia's holding for EUR 72 per share. The transaction volume was EUR 1.264 billion. Subsequently, ACS acquired further shares and by September 2010, held  29.9% in Hochtief. On September 16, 2010, ACS announced a public takeover bid for the remaining shares, offering eight ACS shares for five Hochtief shares.[20]  On November 29, ACS's takeover of Hochtief was approved by the BaFin (the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority).[21] In December, Qatar Holding, from the Emirate of Qatar, subscribed a reserved capital increase, thus acquiring a stake of almost 9.1%.[22] In January 2011, after ACS had raised its offer to nine shares for five Hochtief shares, ACS finally announced that it held a stake in Hochtief exceeding 30%, following the close of the takeover bid. In June 2011, ACS held a total of just over 50% in Hochtief, since the voting rights of shares held by Hochtief itself were allocated to ACS.[24]

In April 2011, CEO Lütkestratkötter announced his resignation at the end of the General Shareholders Meeting on May 12, 2011. His successor was Hochtief Executive Board member, Frank Stieler.[25] Stieler aligned the company's strategy with the focus on realizing energy and transportation infrastructure. These areas were defined as the core business of the company in 2013, alongside traditional construction. In November 2012, Stieler retired with immediate effect. His successor was Marcelino Fernández Verdes, who previously had been Chief Operating Officer at ACS. It was also announced that Supervisory Board Chairman Manfred Wennemer would be stepping down from his position on December 31, 2012. His successor was Thomas Eichelmann, a member of the Supervisory Board up to that point.[26]

At the beginning of May 2013, Hochtief announced the sale of its Hochtief Airport division to Canada's infrastructure investor PSP Investments for EUR 1.1 billion, and at the beginning of June the sale of its Service Solutions division, in which the company's facility and energy management activities are bundled, to French company Spie.[27][28]

==Organization==
===Company structure===
Hochtief Aktiengesellschaft is divided into three Divisions with subsidiaries and other holdings[29]:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! class="hintergrundfarbe6" colspan="3"| Hochtief Aktiengesellschaft 
|-
| class="hintergrundfarbe5" width="33%"|Hochtief Americas || class="hintergrundfarbe5" width="33%"|Hochtief Asia Pacific|| class="hintergrundfarbe5" width="33%"|Hochtief Europe
|-
| class="hintergrundfarbe2"| [[Turner Construction]], Flatiron || class="hintergrundfarbe2"| [[Leighton Holdings]] (56,39 Prozent) || class="hintergrundfarbe2" width="33%" |Hochtief Europe (Hochtief Solutions AG)
|}

===Executive Board===

* Marcelino Fernández Verdes, CEO
* Peter Sassenfeld, CFO

===Members of the Supervisory Board===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! class="hintergrundfarbe6"| Shareholders    !! class="hintergrundfarbe6"| Employee representatives
|-
| class="hintergrundfarbe2"|[[Thomas Eichelmann]], Chairman || class="hintergrundfarbe2"| Gregor Asshoff
|-
| class="hintergrundfarbe2"| Abdulla Abdulaziz Turki Al-Subaie || class="hintergrundfarbe2"| Carsten Burckhardt
|-
| class="hintergrundfarbe2"| Ángel García Altozano || class="hintergrundfarbe2"| Thomas Krause
|-
| class="hintergrundfarbe2"| [[Michael_Frenzel_(Manager)|Michael Frenzel]] || class="hintergrundfarbe2"| Matthias Maurer
|-
| class="hintergrundfarbe2"| José Luis del Valle Pérez || class="hintergrundfarbe2"| Udo Paech
|-
| class="hintergrundfarbe2"| [[Garcia_Sanz|Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz]] || class="hintergrundfarbe2"|Nikolaos Paraskevopoulos
|-
| class="hintergrundfarbe2"| Pedro López Jiménez || class="hintergrundfarbe2"| Klaus Stümper
|-
| class="hintergrundfarbe2"| Jan Martin Wicke || class="hintergrundfarbe2"| Olaf Wendler
|}

Construction projects (a selection)

 
 
Shaft 12 at the former Zollverein Colliery in Essen (designated World Heritage Site by UNESCO)
 
 
The Führerbunker in Berlin, built by Hochtief "1943". Hitler committed suicide here during the Battle of Berlin in 1945
 
 
Moving the Tempel of Abu Simbel 1963–1968