Combined Company and Group Management Report
Group structure and business activities
Group structure spans control and service levels
HOCHTIEF Aktiengesellschaft adopted a new Group structure with six divisions from January 1, 2008. The restructuring reflected the growing importance of the services segment. The Group is headed by the management holding company with its control and service levels.Responsibility for the strategic and organizational development of HOCHTIEF Aktiengesellschaft resides at the control level with the Executive Board and the Group's corporate centers. These are Procurement, Controlling, Finance/Investor Relations, Human Resources, Accounting, Legal, Auditing, Tax, Corporate Development, Corporate Communications, Insurance Management and Corporate Governance/ Compliance.
The service level provides a range of services for the Group as a whole. The service units are the Personnel Management Center Europe, the Service Center (services provided for operational units such as Legal, Tax and Accounting), and the occupational safety, health and environmental protection (OSHEP) competence center.
Also directly subordinate to HOCHTIEF Aktiengesellschaft are the two companies HOCHTIEF ViCon and HOCHTIEF Insurance Broking and Risk Management Solutions. These support the capability portfolio of the operational units with innovative solutions and services.
HOCHTIEF Insurance Broking and Risk Management Solutions
The insurance services provided by HOCHTIEF Insurance Broking and Risk Management Solutions span the entire project life cycle: Before, during and after construction, the brokerage insures project risks across the Group, for example, covering construction work on infrastructure projects, real estate and facilities. As well as insuring risks we face ourselves, we also offer these insurance services to others, including all parties involved in contracting work. Clients, owners and end users can thus purchase cover for risks such as fire and business interruption both during and after the construction phase.HOCHTIEF Insurance also provides reinsurance services through subsidiary companies, chiefly for the HOCHTIEF Americas division. Insurance is provided in this way among other things for construction work and liability risks. The company also transfers best-practice solutions within the Group. In 2008, for example, "subguard" policies against subcontractor default – tried-and-trusted approach used by Turner in the USA – was adopted by the HOCHTIEF Europe division. This further enhanced the risk management system and substantially strengthened HOCHTIEF's position in the event of subcontractor insolvency.
The HOCHTIEF insurance activities allow us to keep down insurance costs by covering calculable risks ourselves. HOCHTIEF Insurance additionally generates third-party business with outside partners.
