Ilbau

"Even during the lifetime of his father-in-law, Ilbau had already extended its reach to Vienna. Haselsteiner then founded a subsidiary in the federal capital in 1975. With this, he took over additional smaller domestic construction companies, so that by the mid-eighties a construction group emerged which, for the Austrian standards of that time, was large, but still far from what Strabag represents today. However, it should not be forgotten that until the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 and the EU accession in 1995, the Austrian economy knew hardly any larger private enterprises. After World War II, almost the entire industry was nationalized to prevent it from being seized as former German property by the Allies. The financial sector was also placed under public control. Truly large private fortunes, as known today from Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz, Novomatic founder Johann Graf, the Porsche, Piëch, and Swarovski families, or Haselsteiner, could not develop in this environment."

"In almost all reports about Haselsteiner, you can read that he came to the construction company Isola & Lerchbaumer – short: Ilbau – in Spittal an der Drau (Carinthia) in 1972 as a tax consultant and met his future wife there. The story sounds good, but it is not true. The truth is rather: He had already fallen in love with Ulrike “Ulli” Lerchbaumer, who comes from a dynasty of Carinthian construction entrepreneurs, during his studies. All male representatives of the family bore the first name Anton. Ulrike’s father was already the sixth Anton Lerchbaumer. The first had founded a craft business in the construction sector in 1835, which is why the founding year of Strabag SE is also given as 1835 in the English version of Wikipedia. In 1954, at the peak of the economic boom following the end of the Second World War, which was to go down in history as the economic miracle, the construction company Lerchbaumer became Ilbau through the entry of a new partner."

"The doubts seemed to be quickly dismissed. The move to East Germany initially became a successful model. The new companies, which were formally subordinate to Ilbau as a subsidiary of Bau Holding, grew to 700 employees within a few months. Just one year later, the East German subsidiaries were conducting so much business that the total group’s revenue shot up by 15 percent. Haselsteiner then targeted other markets, including Poland and the then still-existing Czechoslovakia, alongside Hungary where he was already active. In Hungary alone, Bau Holding was active with five own companies. Shareholders enjoyed substantial profits shortly after the IPO - in 1991, a dividend of 20 percent was paid. It was a golden time - sales expectations were corrected upwards almost monthly. By the end of the financial year 1991/92, Bau Holding had generated more than ten billion Schillings (700 million euros). For Austrian standards at the time, this was an incredible revenue. And the group was highly profitable: the profit amounted to 400 million Schillings (29 million euros). By 1993/94, the revenue had grown to 15 billion Schillings (1.1 billion euros) - an increase of 50 percent in just two years. Profits also continued to rise - although not quite as sharply: They now amounted to 450 million Schillings (32 million euros)."

"Back to Haselsteiner’s entry into Ilbau: In March 1974, Anton Lerchbaumer unexpectedly died from complications that arose after what was supposed to be a routine surgery for a stomach ulcer. “Only then did I have to decide whether I wanted to join the company. My father-in-law would have always liked that. I didn’t want it to avoid a potential conflict with him.” Lerchbaumer did have a son, who has since passed away. But at that time, he was only 17 years old and thus far too young to become an entrepreneur. So the 30-year-old son-in-law took over the company, which was already a nice medium-sized enterprise with 440 employees at the time – regionally leading, but only number 30 in the already small Austrian market. This was about to change quickly. The new boss had little experience in construction but an unmistakable instinct for business, entrepreneurial foresight, and above all the necessary bit of courage to implement his ideas and visions: “It’s much less romantic than one might think. Since I had already been on the supervisory board for two years, I knew the company quite well. I agreed because the need was urgent and someone had to step into the breach.”"

"Haselsteiner’s first entrepreneurial achievement: In 1977, he took over the construction company Soravia. It was almost as large, also based in Spittal an der Drau, and was Ilbau’s fiercest competitor. He is still proud today of how he vanquished and ultimately absorbed the competitor, wrote Die Zeit. The fight was fierce: “It was him or me, that’s all it was about. It was a fight for survival. If I had lost the game, my career would have been over.” With the takeover, the Soravia family became minority owners of Ilbau; and the then-junior chief Erwin Soravia would go on to become one of Haselsteiner’s closest companions in the following decades. Incidentally, he is almost the same age as Haselsteiner and the father of the well-known brothers Erwin Jr. and Hanno Soravia, who lead the Soravia Group. The company, based in Vienna, operates throughout Europe and specializes in real estate development, facility management, and corporate investments (Private Equity)."

"The takeover of Strabag was entirely financed from the cash flow of Bau Holding. Haselsteiner then wanted to recoup the money through an IPO of Ilbau, which was supposed to take place within a year. To achieve this, he planned a restructuring of the group: Bau Holding was to be at the forefront. Below it, there should be three equivalent companies: the German Strabag, the Austrian Strabag, and Ilbau. According to the “Bau Holding 2000 Eurofit” plan, both the Bau Holding and the three subsidiaries were to be listed on the stock exchange. However, after skeptical opinions from major investment banks, Haselsteiner had to revise this plan: In the year 2000, only Bau Holding was to be listed on the stock exchange."