Sources: Göttinger Tagesblatt 5 October 2021, Handelsblatt 19 May 2022, Business Insider 7 July 2021
Näder Holding represents the management and investment company of the Näder family. The core of Näder Holding is Ottobock SE & KGaA in the medical technology sector. The group has considerable key figures to offer: Over 8,200 employees in 59 countries worldwide. The company is one of the global market leaders in the field of prosthesis technology. In 2019, a net profit of more than one billion euros was generated. However, if you take a closer look at the company’s history and annual reports, one thing becomes clear: the business is not as stable as it seems.
Takeover from 1990
At the age of just 28, Hans Georg Näder took over the management of the family empire from his father Max Näder. Max Näder, son-in-law of company founder Otto Bock, was able to rebuild the company in the post-war period and led it to a successful competitive position.
The pressure on Hans Georg Näder’s shoulders in that year of the takeover was high. Not only did he have responsibility for the family empire, but he also had to live up to the role of a father. In the same year, his first daughter Julia was born. The criticism from outside was great. But he was able to live up to it.
With the turn of the millennium in mind, Näder introduced new fields of operation. One of these was the field of EDP technology. This was to be the foundation stone for the digitalization service provider Sycor. Otto Bock Holding GmbH was now positioned in the health care, plastics and IT sectors and was able to demonstrate and realize enormous growth potential.
The subsidiary Sycor
In November 2018, the subsidiary Sycor sought to merge with the IT service provider Allgeier Enterprise Services. According to press releases, the merger could have resulted in enormous opportunities with revenues of more than 220 million euros. The goal was to further expand into a “leading full-service provider for SAP and Microsoft services in the IT consulting market.” However, this strategic merger did not come to pass. It was announced back at the beginning of 2019 that the collaboration between the two companies was over. Ottobock ended the partnership. The reason for this, the company said, was different views on the management and direction of the company.
The next generation
Hans Georg Näder’s two daughters are also part of the family empire and carry a high level of responsibility in their positions. They come from the father’s failed marriages.
The older of the two sisters, Julia, is a board member of the Ottobock group of companies. She had to give up her dream of becoming a professional equestrienne at the age of 22. At that age, she had a serious accident – while riding, of all things. In a fall from a horse, she broke her back, as well as several ribs, and suffered internal bleeding. Today, she relies on the help of orthopedic products, supplied by her own family business.
Näder’s younger daughter was born in 1997. Just like her older sister, she graduated from Louisenlund boarding school. This came at a good time, because there was a lot of stress at home at the time: Her parents were separating. Parallel to her studies, Georgina Näder took on responsibility in the family business in 2017. Her father secured her a place on the management and supervisory boards. The then 20-year-old is thus one of the youngest to hold such a high position. For Georgina, however, this was a great motivation to prove herself.
Sudden change of personnel
The fact that things are not always so peaceful in the personnel culture of Näder Holding is shown by the current events of 2022. No less than three of the most important holders of management positions were dismissed in the summer.
Kathrin Dahnke, former CFO (Chief Financial Officer), responsible for the company’s financial area, was the first victim of the arbitrary wave of dismissals. The manager had joined Näder’s company only in the previous fall and provided hope. The 61-year-old stayed with the Ottobock Group for just nine months. Such a short period of time had not been planned before she took up her post. However, comparing this tenure to those of her predecessors put this unusual duration into perspective. Since 2017, seven CFOs have tried to put the company on a better financial course. No one has succeeded. Currently, Arne Kreitz is taking over the CFO post. Yet Dahnke was no stranger to the company: She already occupied an executive position from 1995 to 2005 and helped strengthen the company.
CEO (Chief Executive Officer) Phillip Schulte-Noelle and CTO (Chief Technology Officer) Andreas Goppelt also had to leave the company. Their posts have been taken over by Arne Jörn and Oliver Jacobi. Dahnke, Schulte-Noelle and Goppelt were among the company’s most important personnel appointments.
Renewed failure to go public
This year, too, a planned IPO was not to work out. Time and again, Hans Georg Näder announced that he would take the company public. However, these words have not yet been followed by action.
Unrest in the corporate environment is said to have been the reason for the renewed postponement. It is questionable whether this unrest could not be home-made. In the week before the IPO, there was the aforementioned curious wave of layoffs, in which three of the most important management positions in the company had to be filled. Regardless of whether these personnel decisions are justified or not, a CEO should publicize such a corporate decision so shortly before an IPO.
Declining equity
Even though Näder Holding’s corporate sales have grown strongly in recent years and have been consistently expanded, a closer look reveals that in some years the company has even posted net losses for the year. The reason for this is that Hans Georg Näder has repeatedly made private withdrawals from the company’s coffers. In 2012, the company posted a profit of 10.8 million euros. However, in contrast to Näder’s withdrawal of around 50 million euros, this amount is vanishingly small. In 2015, Näder took out almost twice that amount again. Within the last decade, withdrawals for private purposes added up to half a billion euros.
The capital would be used to promote projects that are not directly connected with Näder Holding. One example is the Hans Georg Näder art gallery in his hometown of Duderstadt. This exhibition shows the private collectibles of the art lover.
The purchase and expansion of the former Bötzow Brewery in Berlin was also very cost-intensive. The investment sum amounts to about 250 million euros. An urban innovation center is to be built in the heart of Berlin, combining cafés, restaurants and office buildings for startups.