The largest domestic thermal baths group, with six locations (e.g. Laa, Geinberg, St. Martins), becomes ‘Austrian’ again: the construction giants Porr and Strabag buy the spas from Vamed, a subsidiary of the German group Fresenius. The operation of the Vienna General Hospital is also included in the package.
The two construction companies will pay around 90 million euros for this and will continue to operate the thermal baths and the rest of the acquired company through a joint company.
Both are already partly active in the healthcare sector and want to strengthen it. Porr, for example, is already involved in eight healthcare institutions and clinics and has twenty years of experience in hospital planning and operation. “This is a logical extension to the healthcare sector. We look forward to working with the City of Vienna as part of the operational management and other AKH construction projects,” Porr CEO Karl-Heinz Strauss explains about the deal. “The more than 1,150 employees will certainly keep their jobs, and we even want to expand their number.”
Losses for two years after cost explosions
New is the direct access to the tourism sector. With Therme Wien, St. Martins (Burgenland), Laa (Lower Austria), Geinberg (Upper Austria), the Salzburger Tauern Spa (Zell/See) and the Aqua Dome (Tyrol), Porr and Strabag are now the largest operators of thermal baths in the country. Previously, through Vamed Vitality World, they belonged to the global hospital planning specialist Vamed (20,000 employees) with headquarters in Vienna. After cost explosions on foreign projects and other management errors, the company ended up in the red and the leadership around long-term boss Ernst Wastler was replaced.
Since 2022, the German Vamed majority shareholder Fresenius, which itself was in crisis, has wanted to get rid of the unloved Austrian subsidiary. It is now being sold piecemeal and most of the international project activity is being halted. The state holding company Öbag, which owns 13% of Vamed, is also satisfied. It is important to preserve the locations; this is now guaranteed, they say.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
