Amadeus FiRe AG announces the acquisition of 100% of the shares in COMCAVE Holding GmbH, Dortmund.

Frankfurt/Main, 19 Dezember 2019. Amadeus FiRe AG has succeeded in taking the long-awaited step of strengthening the training and education segment within the Amadeus FiRe Group. “With the COMCAVE Group, we have found a partner that excellently complements the Amadeus FiRe Group’s previous offering and opens up highly interesting approaches to direct cooperation,” said Robert von Wülfing, Spokesman of the Management Board. “Both companies are specialised service providers who are very focused and have high quality standards, helping people to develop their professional skill set, gain new qualifications and thereby develop their personal careers. ” Training today, a new job tomorrow “, adds Thomas Surwald, CEO of the COMCAVE Group, “We have identified many strategic similarities in our discussions. The business fields of education and personnel services strengthen each other and are much stronger in their interaction than the individual companies. Therefore, with Amadeus FiRe as one of the most successful personnel service companies, we are pleased to be able to further develop the great potential that lies within our company in the upcoming years”.

COMCAVE is a specialised adult education provider in Germany. A major focus is on publicly funded occupational retraining and advanced vocational training. Educational content at COMCAVE is highly relevant and future-oriented learning content from middle and higher qualification areas within the labour market. The portfolio of educational offerings for the more than 10,000 participants every year mainly targets commercial and IT professionals as well as qualifications in the marketing and multimedia sector. The training courses are offered at more than 50 locations throughout Germany. COMCAVE cooperates with well-known industry partners (including SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, IHK) to offer specific training and certified qualifications.

The company’s Management Board expects COMCAVE to achieve revenues of around EUR 60 million in the 2019 financial year with an EBITDA margin (preparation of financial statements in accordance with German Commercial Code (HGB)) of above 25%.

The previous majority shareholder, the private equity investor Gilde Buy Out Partners, is handing over the company after around five years as an excellently positioned organisation. “COMCAVE has developed very positively in recent years and has achieved a leading market position,” says Matthias Wilcken, responsible Managing Director at Gilde. “We would like to thank all our employees and the management team for their successful development and excellent cooperation. We are convinced that Amadeus FiRe is the new powerful owner who, together with COMCAVE, will certainly be able to continue the success story”.

An essential element of this success is the digitization of the entire value chain. COMCAVE is able to automate the entire process landscape as far as possible and to scale the business.

COMCAVE’s training measures are modular in structure: Like building blocks, the courses can be combined with each other. In this way, an individually designed learning path is created for each participant, which corresponds exactly to their previous knowledge and objectives. Classes are always instructor-led – and at the same time online in the virtual classroom. Learning can take place on site with the instructor or locally from all locations or from home via telelearning in the virtual classroom. Maximum flexibility for learning success.

These flexible structures lead to sustainably high profitability and ensure COMCAVEs very high-quality standards. Another factor for the dynamic development was the significant expansion of the number of locations, starting in 2016 until today, which underpins the future growth potential.

Dennis Gerlitzki, COO at Amadeus FiRe and responsible for the personnel services segment, looks forward to the cooperation with great anticipation. “For us, access to qualified candidates is the main bottleneck in recruitment of personnel and in the search for our own employees in temporary staffing. This shortage of specialists will certainly continue to accompany us and our customers throughout Germany for a long time to come. In my view, targeted cooperation between the two companies is a unique opportunity for training participants to receive targeted assistance from Amadeus FiRe and to smoothly find and shape their transition into the labour market. A very large proportion of the participants in the retraining and further training measures qualify directly in the core competence areas of the Amadeus FiRe Group: commercial and IT professions.

Robert von Wülfing, responsible for the training and education business at Amadeus FiRe, adds: “The very innovative and modern learning infrastructure and the extensive network of locations also offer a wide range of opportunities to market our existing product portfolio of the market leading Dr. Endriss Tax College and the Academy for International Accounting. We are delighted that the management of the COMCAVE Group will continue to drive our joint growth course from their headquarters in Dortmund”.

Amadeus FiRe expects a positive earnings effect because of additional revenues from synergies in 2020 already.

The purchase price for COMCAVE and the repayment of COMCAVE’s existing financial liabilities totalling around EUR 200 million will be financed from the company’s cash and cash equivalents and a bridge loan of around EUR 170 million. The Management Board is currently reviewing all long-term financing options.

The dividend policy of a full distribution pursued in recent years will be reviewed within the framework of the various financing options.

Amadeus FiRe

Amadeus FiRe AG, with its headquarters in Frankfurt/Main, is one of the leading specialised human resources service providers in Germany operating from 20 regional branch offices. The company was founded in 1986 and is focussing on qualified personnel in the commercial and IT area. Amadeus Fire is offering their candidates the services permanent placement, temporary staffing as well as interim and project management.

The Amadeus FiRe Group is also a leading provider in training and education services in finance and accounting, tax and controlling. Amadeus FiRe, which has been listed on the stock exchange since 1999 (ISIN DE 0005093108) and is part of the SDAX, achieved sales of 205.8 million euros in 2018, employing approximately 3,000 employees.

Further information is available at www.amadeus-fire.deBitte beachten Sie, dass Sie über diesen Link eine externe Webseite besuchen, für die möglicherweise nicht dieselben Datenschutz-, Sicherheits- oder Zugangsrichtlinien gelten..

COMCAVE

COMCAVE.GROUP® is an established, innovative educational company that drives the education and training of adults in the German education market. COMCAVE was founded in 2002 and focuses on the area of digitally and tech-enabled forms of learning with instructor-led lessons in virtual classrooms at 53 locations throughout Germany. For more than 15 years, COMCAVE.GROUP® stands for innovation and quality as one of the market leaders. COMCAVE achieved sales of 55.7 million euros in the 2018 financial year.

Further information is available at www.ComCave.de.
Bitte beachten Sie, dass Sie über diesen Link eine externe Webseite besuchen, für die möglicherweise nicht dieselben Datenschutz-, Sicherheits- oder Zugangsrichtlinien gelten.