Sycor Group 8 November 2018
The Göttingen-based IT company Sycor is part of Näder Holding and offers opportunities for company-wide learning and efficient organization. Through this subsidiary, Ottobock HealthCare GmbH is also positioned in the area of information technology.
The Ottobock Group
The Ottobock Group employs more than 8,200 people in 59 countries worldwide. In 2019, annual sales exceeded one billion euros for the first time. The company has been under the leadership of Hans Georg Näder since 1990.
With the turn of the millennium in mind, Näder introduced new fields of operation. These included, for example, the field of EDP technology. This was to be the foundation stone for the digitalization service provider Sycor. Ottobock Holding GmbH was now positioned in the fields of health care, plastics and IT, and was thus able to demonstrate and realize enormous growth potential.
Sycor’s business segments
With its digital solutions, Sycor aims to make everyday life easier for users in the company on a national and international level. In doing so, the company is active in the Health Care and Lifestyle Science sectors and the manufacturing industry. By making information available more quickly and increasing data availability, companies are meant to be able to achieve a competitive advantage. Especially in Industry 4.0, which is characterized by digitalization and the interconnectedness of products and data, this can be a decisive factor.
Merger plans in fall 2018
To strengthen its own business, Sycor targeted a merger with the IT service provider Allgeier Enterprise Service. Such a merger would bring several advantages at once. Among them are, for example, the increase of available know-how and knowledge, expansion of the customer base and reduction of costs. Such strategic cooperation is nothing unusual in the corporate world and can be observed time and again. The plans for the merger were published in November 2018.
Allgeier
Allgeier provided the perfect conditions for cooperation. The company is at least on the same eye level as Sycor. At the time, Allgeier had 750 employees and was able to generate a net income of 105 million euros, which was even slightly higher than the comparable figures for the Ottobock subsidiary. Another advantage was the number of locations. The number amounts to 120 in Europe. Allgeier was to act as majority partner in this constellation.
Short partnership
However, the partnership between the two IT companies did not last long. Merger talks were terminated as early as February of the following year. “Sycor hereby terminates its partnership,” Ottobock said. The strengthening through Ottobock Holding would be sufficient to achieve the strategic goal of the “leading full-service provider for SAP and Microsoft services.” Allgeier’s majority partnership may also have been a possible trigger.
This short-term decision is surprising, since there was already agreement on the company form. The SE legal form was to be chosen. An IPO was also already planned.
Source: IT Zoom 5 February 2019
No courage to go public?
The fact that announced IPOs are not realized seems to be anchored in the corporate culture of Näder Holding. The parent company Ottobock HealthCare also announced another IPO in 2022, which was canceled at short notice due to “unrest in the corporate environment.” Shortly before the company was to go public, three of the key holders of management positions in the company were dismissed.
Kathrin Dahnke, former CFO (Chief Financial Officer), responsible for the company’s finance department, was the first victim of the arbitrary wave of dismissals. The manager had joined Näder’s company only 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 held a senior 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 positions have been taken over by Arne Jörn and Oliver Jacobi. Dahnke, Schulte-Noelle and Goppelt were among the most important personnel changes at the company.
Source: Handelsblatt 19 May 2022
Näder causes unrest at Sycor
Hans Georg Näder’s unpredictable management has repeatedly led to internal problems in the Ottobock Group. The wave of terminations, which cannot be explained, is representative of his management style.
In early 2020, about a year after the end of the cooperation between Sycor and Allgeier was announced, Näder caused renewed unrest. This time, he sued the ex-managing director of his own subsidiary Sycor for unfair competition. He is accused of having poached customers, employees and managers. This allegedly caused damages of almost 25 million euros.
Näder in a house of glass
Whether Näder is in a position to sue others for unfair competition is more than questionable. At issue is an incident which occurred in 2017.
The German healthcare company wanted to acquire the US competitor Freedom Innovations. However, this acquisition was not legal. Ottobock had not even sought approval from the authorities. After the U.S. regulatory agency FTC learned of the illegal acquisition, it was retroactively prohibited. Näder commented that pre-approval had simply been “missed.” However, if this request had been made in advance, one thing would have been clear from the start: The takeover violates antitrust law and cannot be carried out under any circumstances. It is a deep intervention in the market. Free competition cannot be guaranteed in this way. The beneficiary of this situation would have been Hans Georg Näder, who would thus have enormously expanded his power with a market share of almost 80 percent.
Source: Handelsblatt 9 May 2019
Loss of prestige and private projects
Such actions are not conducive to the long-term success of a company and always lead to a loss of prestige. In the past, Näder repeatedly allowed himself such missteps. As managing partner of the Ottobock Group of companies, he has free access to the company’s coffers. Over the past decade, the 61-year-old from Duderstadt withdrew around 500 million euros, which he used to finance private projects. These include, for example, his own art gallery or the acquisition of the Bötzow Brewery in Berlin Prenzlauer Berg. The cost of this investment is estimated at around 250 million euros.