Arques Austria, the Austrian subsidiary of the Starnberg-based equity investment company Arques Industries, has taken over all shares in internationally operating filling station provider Rohe. The companies have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.
Rohe, which is headquartered in Vienna, is the largest independent, internationally operating service provider for filling stations in Europe. The company specializes in the building, installation and maintenance of hydraulic, electric and electronic systems for filling stations and car wash facilities.
Rohe is represented in 19 countries with its own subsidiaries and a total of more than 50 branches. Aside from Germany and Austria, the company focuses on the growth markets in eastern Europe, southeastern Europe and the former CIS states.
Rohe maintains more than 10,000 filling stations and more than 3,000 car wash facilities, and its long-standing customers include large international oil companies. The group generated revenues of more than E100 million in 2006, and Arques hopes to improve on this in the future.
Arques subsidiary manager Jan Satek, who will be managing director of Rohe alongside Michael Wieser, said: We are convinced that the strategic added value resulting from Arques’s restructuring and eastern Europe know-how combined with the technological expertise of the Rohe group will continue to develop the leading role in the central and eastern European growth markets and to further establish Rohe’s position as market leader.
The transaction is subject to the approval of the relevant cartel authorities.