Wolfgang Reitzle will alles aus Continental herausholen. Der Aufsichtsratschef des Dax-Konzerns hat es auf eine höhere Börsenbewertung und mehr Kapital abgesehen. Sein Plan: Die Conti-Sparte für das automatisierte Fahren aus dem Gesamtkonzern herauslösen und dadurch den wirklichen Wert des wichtigsten Zukunftsgeschäfts für Investoren sichtbar machen. Die könnten sich dann auch an den hohen Investitionen beteiligen. Ankeraktionär Schaeffler, so hört man, scheint dem Plan nicht abgeneigt zu sein. Das berichtete das Handelsblatt Anfang Februar.Die finanzielle Logik hinter dem Masterplan ist bestechend. Aus industrieller Sicht aber ist es ein Risiko. Im Unternehmen und im Aufsichtsrat gibt es neben vielen Befürwortern auch Gegner dieser Strategie. „Was bleibt denn dann noch von Continental übrig?“, fragt ein Aufsichtsratsmitglied. Damit mache sich Conti als Konzern nur angreifbar. Konkurrenten könnten Bestandteile des Unternehmens übernehmen. Am Ende wäre Conti wieder überwiegend ein Reifenhersteller mit vergleichsweise kleinem Software-Geschäft.
Außerdem würden die wirtschaftlichen Argumente bislang fehlen. „Wo ist die Wachstumsstory, die so eine Abspaltung rechtfertigen würde?“, fragt ein Insider mit Blick auf die Kooperation von Bosch und Cariad.
Der Konkurrent von Continental ist mit Volkswagens Softwareeinheit Cariad zuletzt eine langjährige Kooperation bei der Entwicklung des automatisierten Fahrens eingegangen. Eine ähnliche Kooperation auf dem Niveau fehlt Conti bislang.
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Continental schwächelt an der Börse, gibt auch die Arbeitnehmerseite zu. Die Schaeffler-Familie, mit 46 Prozent größter Anteilseigner von Conti, sei daher an einer höheren Bewertung interessiert, heißt es aus Finanzkreisen. „Aber ich hatte bislang nicht den Eindruck, dass sie das zwingend über eine Abspaltung erreichen will“, berichtet dagegen ein Mitglied des Aufsichtsgremiums. Außerdem würden die Schaefflers nicht zu überstürzten Entscheidungen neigen.
>> Read more: Conti is planning this for automated driving
In short: Conti’s interests are opaque. One thing is clear: When Continental presents its annual figures on Wednesday, the analysts expect a familiar picture. The tire business will show double-digit margins, the car business will remain a balance sheet tragedy. The most important division of the supplier, in which the business with the car software and automated driving is bundled, has hardly contributed to the group result for years.
This discrepancy has direct consequences for the tire division, which is actually doing well. Because although business is going brilliantly, the division gets caught up in the whirlpool of restructuring that the group initiated in 2019 and which is referred to internally as “Transformation C”.
The impatience of those responsible for the tire business and the employees grows with every quarterly balance sheet in which the car business delivers weak results. “The tire division has been financing a significant part of the restructuring of the automotive business for years,” says a group insider. The interim highlight was the decision to close a profitable tire plant in Aachen. In the tire division, there is therefore sympathy for Reitzle’s plan.
For large suppliers, fragmentation is dangerous
Separated from Conti, the automated driving division could reach a valuation of seven billion euros. For comparison: the entire group is worth around 16 billion euros on the stock exchange. This is one of the most important arguments for the supporters of the spin-off plans at Continental.
But from the point of view of the industry, the arguments of the opponents on the supervisory board and in the company are also understandable. Because the filleting of such a large supplier as Continental would have the potential to shake the German automotive supplier industry to its foundations. Once big names threaten to disappear in times of complex hardware and software.
Experts are already advising traditional car companies to cooperate directly with tech companies such as Google, Amazon, Nvidia or Qualcomm when it comes to software. “We doubt that traditional automakers and auto suppliers will be able to keep up with the tech companies in a timely manner and at competitive costs,” says UBS analyst Patrick Hummel.
Alex Koster, partner at the strategy consultancy Boston Consulting Group, also sees a change coming to the industry. “The dismemberment of the old model of cooperation between car manufacturers and suppliers is one possible scenario,” says Koster. Since the individual functionalities in the car are becoming more and more complex, it could happen that traditional suppliers specialize in certain areas of the car. “That would simplify financing and cooperation with tech players,” says the car expert.
Tech companies see their chance. Many still lack experience in the special automotive business. By taking on specialized suppliers, they could practically “buy” this experience. Opponents of the spin-off plans fear a scenario that could also threaten Conti’s automated driving division, since it becomes “more transferable” detached from the group.
There is already an example of this. Chip giant Qualcomm acquired Veoneer, a Swedish automated driving specialist, for $4.6 billion last year. The explosive thing about it: With its bid, the US chip company had outbid the traditional supplier Magna, which was also interested in Veoneer, by over a billion dollars.
Setzer works with a “sworn team”.
Conti boss Nikolai Setzer has not yet commented on the spin-off speculation. At the same time, he is currently also a member of the Board of Management of the Automotive unit. Insiders report that he gathered companions from his time in the tire division there. In his tire time, it was a “sworn team” that brought the division into shape. Setter now wants to apply this model to Automotive independently of the spin-off speculation. “But if this team still doesn’t deliver any results worth mentioning in two years, Setzer is risking his reputation.”
In view of the new competition from the tech environment, the Conti boss faces a major task. Some employees in the automotive department apparently see this as too big a task.
It is said that many engineers, especially at the Lindau site on Lake Constance, would leave the company and switch to direct competitors. Applications from employees from Continental’s automotive division are already piling up at Bosch and ZF.
More: “Faster on the road”: How Stellantis could overtake VW thanks to Alexa.