Mannesmann
Encyclopedia
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
corporation with headquarters in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
. The company was founded in 1890 originally to produce seamless steel tubes
Rotary piercing
Rotary piercing is a hot working metalworking process for forming thick-walled seamless tubing. There are two types: the Mannesmann process and Stiefel process.-Mannesmann process:...
. It was traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange
Frankfurt Stock Exchange
The Frankfurt Stock Exchange is the world's 12th largest stock exchange by market capitalization. Located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange is owned and operated by Deutsche Börse, which also owns the European futures exchange Eurex and the clearing company...
. (Ticker symbol is MMN.) The company had 130,860 employees worldwide and revenues (1999) of €23.27 billion.
Over time, Mannesmann purchased a lot of companies to become a diversified conglomerate. Amongst its subsidiaries was Hartmann und Braun, which has since been sold off to Elsag-Bailey which was subsequently purchased by ABB
Mannesmann Arcor
Mannesmann ArcorArcor (Telecommunications)
Arcor is the second-largest fixed phone line provider in Germany. The company has been renamed to Vodafone AG & Co. KG on 8/1/2009. It is owned solely by Vodafone since May 2008, when Deutsche Bahn and Deutsche Bank sold their shares to Vodafone.# Its headquarters are in Eschborn near Frankfurt...
was Germany's second largest fixed line
Landline
A landline was originally an overland telegraph wire, as opposed to an undersea cable. Currently, landline refers to a telephone line which travels through a solid medium, either metal wire or optical fibre, as distinguished from a mobile cellular line, where transmission is via radio waves...
telephony and internet company.
It is owned solely by Vodafone
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Plc is a global telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world's second-largest measured by subscribers , with around 341 million proportionate subscribers as of...
since May 2008, when Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...
(18.17%) and Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG is a global financial service company with its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. It employs more than 100,000 people in over 70 countries, and has a large presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and the emerging markets...
(8.18%) sold their shares to Vodafone..
D2 Mannesmann
Mannesmann operated Germany's second cellular network carrier known as D2 Mannesmann. Mannesmann Mobilfunk was founded on 1990. This was the main competitor to Germany's incumbent carrier, Deutsche TelekomDeutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom AG is a telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is the largest telecommunications company in Europe....
's T-Mobile
T-Mobile
T-Mobile International AG is a German-based holding company for Deutsche Telekom AG's various mobile communications subsidiaries outside Germany. Based in Bonn, Germany, its subsidiaries operate GSM and UMTS-based cellular networks in Europe, the United States, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...
, also known as D1.
Acquisition by Vodafone
Mannesmann was acquired by VodafoneVodafone
Vodafone Group Plc is a global telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world's second-largest measured by subscribers , with around 341 million proportionate subscribers as of...
Group Plc. in 2000. This was a controversial takeover as never before in Germany had a large company been acquired by a foreign owner. This was a hostile takeover but the merger was backed in a private deal between Mannesmann management and Vodafone. The acquisition was led by Vodafone's Chief Executive, Chris Gent
Chris Gent
Sir Christopher Charles Gent is a British businessman, He is the former chief executive officer of Vodafone, a British mobile phone company. He is currently the chairman of GlaxoSmithKline, the world's second largest pharmaceutical, biological, and healthcare company.-Early life:Born in 1948 in...
, and Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational bulge bracket investment banking and securities firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients...
' Scott Mead
Scott Mead
Scott Mead is a photographer, financier and philanthropist. He is co-founder of Richmond Park Partners, a private merchant bank in London. He was formerly a partner and managing director of Goldman Sachs ....
, who was then the chief advisor on the deal.
Under the terms of the deal, Mannesmann sought assurances from Vodafone that the Mannesmann brand and name would be kept under the new owners. This was agreed and the deal was announced. However, not long after this, Vodafone reneged on the deal and rebranded.
Rebranding to Vodafone
The name Mannesmann ceased to exist in the telecommunication branch soon after the deal with VodafoneVodafone
Vodafone Group Plc is a global telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world's second-largest measured by subscribers , with around 341 million proportionate subscribers as of...
. As a result:
- Mannesmann Arcor became ArcorArcor (Telecommunications)Arcor is the second-largest fixed phone line provider in Germany. The company has been renamed to Vodafone AG & Co. KG on 8/1/2009. It is owned solely by Vodafone since May 2008, when Deutsche Bahn and Deutsche Bank sold their shares to Vodafone.# Its headquarters are in Eschborn near Frankfurt...
- D2 Mannesmann became D2 Vodafone and subsequently Vodafone D2
The brand "Mannesmann" still lives on in the steel industry as a part of the Salzgitter AG
Salzgitter AG
Salzgitter AG is a German company, one of the largest steel producers in Europe with an annual output of around 7 million tonnes.The company was founded in 1937 as Reichswerke Hermann Göring,...
, Vallourec
Vallourec
Vallourec S.A. is a French group of companies specialised in hot rolled seamless steel tubes, expandable tubular technology, automotive parts and stainless steel. The firm is headquartered in the Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt...
-Mannesmann or Mannesmannröhren Logistic.
Controversy
During the Second World WarWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, when the company was chaired by Nazi Party activist Wilhelm Zangen
Wilhelm Zangen
Wilhelm Zangen was a German industrialist and supporter of the Nazi Party....
, slave labour
Forced labor in Germany during World War II
The use of forced labour in Nazi Germany and throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II took place on an unprecedented scale. It was a vital part of the German economic exploitation of conquered territories. It also contributed to the mass extermination of populations in German-occupied...
was employed at their tube rolling mills. Zangen served four months in prison for his involvement, although he remained a leading figure with Mannesmann until his retirement in 1966.