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Messer Group

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Messer SE & Co. KGaA
Company typeSE, Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien
IndustryChemicals
Founded1898; 126 years ago (1898)
HeadquartersBad Soden, Germany
Key people
Stefan Messer (Chairman)
Bernd Eulitz (CEO)[1]
ProductsIndustrial gases, fine chemicals
Revenue€4.39 billion (2023)[1]
Number of employees
11,519 (2023)[1]
Websitewww.messergroup.com

The Messer SE & Co. KGaA, previously known as Messer Group GmbH, is a supplier of industrial gases with headquarters in Bad Soden (Germany). Stefan Messer, grandson of company founder Adolf Messer, is Chairman of the family company's Supervisory Board.[1]

The company is considered the world's biggest family-owned industrial gas company with activities in Europe, Asia, North- and South America.[2][3][4] In 2023, it was valued at upwards of €12 billion.[5]

History

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Founding and early years

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Adolf Messer was a 20-year-old student when he founded the Acetylen-Gas-Gesellschaft Messer & Cie in 1898. The company manufactured acetylene gas generators and lighting systems in Frankfurt Höchst. Within the first seven years, around 300 appliances were exported.[3][6][7]

Reacting to the emergence of electrical lighting, the company shifted its focus towards cutting and welding.[3] It developed its first hydrogen-oxygen cutting torch in 1903.[7] Adolf Messer also engaged in air separation. The company’s first oxygen plant, located in Spain, started operation in 1910.[8]

In the years before World War I, Adolf Messer exported a number of air separation units and expanded the company’s activities both domestically and internationally. The outbreak of the war in 1914 put an end to this growth. The production facilities mostly remained intact throughout the war, but assets in the United Kingdom and the United States were lost because of it. After 1918, Adolf Messer prioritized regaining export markets. In the 1920s, the company re-established international contacts in the cutting and welding sector.[6][7]

In the years leading to World War II, the company primarily handled orders from the arms industry and was active in the construction of special machines. It also participated in rocket weapon research.[9][10] In addition, Messer worked on improving resistance welding technology, and the company’s electrical welding equipment was used for the joining of tank walls. The company developed a space-curve oxygen cutting machine, which enabled three-dimensional work on contoured armored cupolas for military vehicles.[6] During wartime, forced laborers were employed in the production of arms components and in war-essential chemical development.[11] Messer's production facilities gradually ceased operations during the last months of the war in 1945. In the following years, the company re-established relationships with international partners, resuming cooperation, among others, with the Société Française des Appareils et Procédés in April 1946.[6]

Founder Adolf Messer passed away in 1954, a year after having transferred the company’s leadership to his son, Hans Messer.[3]

Expansion

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"Cold box" - Messer Tehnogas AD Bor, Serbia

In 1965, Messer merged with Knapsack Griesheim AG, a subsidiary of Hoechst AG, to form the new Messer Griesheim GmbH. After the merger, Hoechst held two-thirds of the shares.[12][13][14]

In this new structure, the company continued to grow and hit the threshold of one billion Deutsche Mark in sales in 1978.[10] The industrial gases business was the biggest contributor, accounting for around 70 percent of total sales. Research and development created new applications for compressed and liquefied gases, gas mixtures and specialty gases. The company’s success also went hand in hand with the acquisition of new clients and partners. After the collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1990, business activities were expanded into Eastern and Central Europe.[6] The years 1994 and 1995 marked the start of business activities in China.[15]

In 1993, Hans Messer stepped down as CEO[10] but remained active for the company as member of the shareholders' committee and of the supervisory board until his death in 1997.[12] The new CEO Herbert Rudolf had previously managed Messer's business in the United States. Under his leadership, the company’s level of debt quadrupled within four years.[13]

In the 1990s, the Hoechst Group changed its corporate strategy, which subsequently led to a change in the direction of Messer Griesheim. Led by a new CEO, Hoechst focused on its core businesses of pharmaceutics and chemicals.[13][14] This realignment led to disagreement between Hoechst and the Messer family and to a dispute about the future ownership structure of Messer Griesheim.[3] A planned IPO failed as did the planned sale of Hoechst’s shares to the gas industry competitor Linde AG.[16][17]

Back to family ownership

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Stefan Messer, grandson of the founder, entered Messer Griesheim’s management in 1998. In the following year, the Messer family bought the Messer Cutting & Welding subsidiary from Messer Griesheim GmbH. Also in 1999, Hoechst merged with Aventis and the Messer shares were transferred to Aventis.[18] In 2001, Aventis sold these Messer shares to the investment companies Goldman Sachs and Allianz Capital Partners,[12][3][16] who sold them to the Messer family in 2004.[3]

With this acquisition, the company returned to full family ownership under the name of Messer Group GmbH.[3] As part of this transaction, the national businesses in Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States were sold to Air Liquide[12] for approximately €2.7 billion.[13] This was bound to a four-year non-compete clause for the Messer Group, prohibiting the company from selling gases under the Messer brand name in the three countries.[13] Messer Group sidestepped by founding the Gase.de Vertriebs-GmbH for selling gases in Germany. When the non-compete clause expired in 2008, Messer Group re-entered the industrial gas business under the Messer brand.[6]

In 2011, the company headquarters moved from Sulzbach to the neighboring town of Bad Soden.[19]

In 2018, Messer signed a supply contract with Rütgers Germany, a subsidiary of Rain Carbon Inc. Messer agreed to supply hydrogen over a period of 15 years and invest in a hydrogen production facility at the Rain carbon site. The facility is also used to supply other customers.[20] A year later, Messer acquired the right to operate in North America and in South America as a result of the Linde-Praxair merger. Regulatory approval required the divestment of these rights.[3] The acquired businesses were not integrated into the group but consolidated in a joint venture with CVC Capital Partners.[3] CVC’s shares were acquired by Messer in 2023.[21]

Since 2021, the company has been operating as Messer SE & Co. KGaA. In 2023, Bernd Eulitz was appointed CEO while Stefan Messer became Chairman of the Supervisory Board.[1][22][23]

Company structure

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The Messer SE & Co. KGaA is the management holding company of the Messer Group, an international supplier of industrial, medical, and specialty gases.[1] The majority of the company’s shares is owned by the founding family and the Dr. Hans Messer Stiftung.[24] Bernd Eulitz is acting as CEO; Stefan Messer holds the position of Chairman of the Supervisory Board.[1]

The group’s 11,519 employees generated sales of €4.39 billion in 2023.[1]

Products

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Messer produces and supplies a range of gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, helium, shielding gases for welding, specialty gases, medical gases, food gases, and various gas mixtures.[2][12][25]

The products are used in industries such as environmental protection, pharma, medicine, food and beverage, steel and metal, cutting and welding, 3D printing, construction, science and research.[15][26]

Under the name of ZeCarb, Messer offers services for decarbonization projects. These services target industries with high emission levels and are designed to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of its customers.[27]

Research

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In its competence centers, Messer Group develops application technologies for the use of gases in various industrial sectors, in food technology, medicine, as well as research and science. These centers are located, among other places, in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and China.[1]

In the field of green hydrogen technology for industrial and mobility applications, Messer entered a cooperation with Siemens Energy in 2021.[28][29]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Annual Report 2023". Messer Group. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  2. ^ a b Cahiles-Magkilat, Bernie (9 July 2023). "German industrial gas seek supply deals in PH". Manila Bulletin.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Fröndhoff, Bert (16 January 2019). "Wie der Chef der Messer Group sein Unternehmen vor dem Aus rettete". Handelsblatt (in German). Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  4. ^ "CVC und Messer schließen Erwerb von Linde- und Praxair-Geschäftsteilen ab". CHEManager (in German). 1 March 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
  5. ^ Kirchfeld, Aaron; Henning, Eyk; Nair, Dinesh (30 May 2023). "Messer Nears GIC Stake Sale at Over €12 Billion Valuation". Bloomberg. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d e f "The story of Messer". Messer Group. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  7. ^ a b c Koch, Fritz (23 September 2020). "Messer, Adolf". Frankfurter Personenlexikon (in German). Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  8. ^ Lesczenski, Jörg (2019). 100 Prozent Messer: die Rückkehr des Familienunternehmens: 1898 bis heute (in German). München: Piper. p. 27. ISBN 978-3-492-05085-2.
  9. ^ Schiner, Sabine (11 December 2018). "Adolf Messer in der Kritik". Darmstädter Echo (in German). p. 12.
  10. ^ a b c Röttele, Stefan (26 October 2010). "Die Chronik der Firma Messer". Frankfurter Neue Presse (in German). p. 2.
  11. ^ Ochmann, Martin (11 December 2018). "Studenten kündigen gemeinsamen Protest an". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). p. 32.
  12. ^ a b c d e Knieps, Stephan (6 September 2018). "Reichste Deutsche: Stefan Messer will mit Industriegasen in die Weltspitze". Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  13. ^ a b c d e Eisenring, Christoph (28 April 2009). "Wie die Familie Messer ihre Firma zurückholte". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in Swiss High German). ISSN 0376-6829. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  14. ^ a b "Private money and family fortunes". The Economist. 8 July 2004. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  15. ^ a b Ji, Jing (10 January 2005). "Messer mulls over expansion in China". China Daily.
  16. ^ a b Busse, Caspar (4 January 2001). "Allianz Capital, Goldman Sachs To Buy 66.6% of Gas Supplier. Aventis to Sell Messer Griesheim Stake for 700 Million Euros". The Wall Street Journal.
  17. ^ "Hoechst Is Pursuing Sale Of Industrial Gas Stake". The New York Times. 5 May 1999.
  18. ^ "Fusion: Hoechst nur noch Geschichte". Der Spiegel (in German). 15 July 1999. ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  19. ^ "Messer expandiert im US-Markt Wirtschaft Firma investiert 35 Millionen Euro". Höchster Kreisblatt (in German). 7 September 2019. p. 14.
  20. ^ "Messer to Build Hydrogen Production Plant in Germany". Vanguard. 18 July 2018.
  21. ^ Dentz, Markus (20 November 2024). "Helmut Kaschenz: Wie der Messer-CFO den CVC-Deal stemmte". Finance Magazin. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  22. ^ Cockerill, Rob (28 April 2023). "How Messer Group was rebuilt with warmth, devotion and ambition". Gasworld. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  23. ^ Cockerill, Rob (27 April 2023). "Stefan Messer: A life's work securing Messer Group". Gasworld. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  24. ^ "Firmenprofil Messer Industrie GmbH". Dun & Bradstreet Deutschland. 2 September 2024.
  25. ^ "Industry: Germany Messer Group to Supply Industrial Gas for HPG Steel Complex". Việt Nam News. 19 April 2017.
  26. ^ Jie, Liu (5 February 2004). "Messer to move in on growing market". China Daily.
  27. ^ Wright, Anthony (22 April 2024). "Messer launches new carbon capture solution ZeCarb". Gasworld. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  28. ^ "Siemens Energy and Messer Join Forces for Industrial Green-Hydrogen Projects". Vanguard. 27 April 2021.
  29. ^ Shumkov, Ivan (26 April 2021). "Siemens, Messer pursue 70 MW of Spanish green hydrogen in new team". Renewables Now. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
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