Compleo takes over innogy eMobility Solutions GmbH and successfully completes integration

At the end of October 2021, Compleo Charging Solutions AG concluded an agreement with the energy group E.ON on the acquisition of innogy eMobility Solutions GmbH. This includes the takeover of the entire workforce and all customer relationships of ieMS as well as the subsidiary of ieMS in the United Kingdom. The consolidation as a wholly-owned subsidiary has been ongoing since 01.01.2022. Compleo is thus implementing the integration of ieMS and its software services for electromobility into the Compleo Group. Consultants from noventum consulting GmbH in Münster are supporting the process by managing and coordinating the IT & HR post-merger integration and developing a target operating model.

Mergers and acquisitions are strategic decisions in the energy business

Compleo Charging Solutions AG is one of the leading full-service providers for charging technology in Europe. With its charging technologies and charging stations, the corresponding software and an all-round service for planning, installation, maintenance and service, Compleo supports its business customers. These include Aldi, Allego, Clever, E.ON, EWE Go, Daimler and Siemens as well as more than 300 municipal utilities in Germany. On the market since 2009, Compleo has focused on growth from the beginning and today employs more than 550 people. The listed company expanded its market position as a full-service provider in 2021 through the acquisition of wallbe GmbH and in 2022 through the purchase of innogy eMoblity Solutions GmbH and continues to grow, currently through the establishment of its own organisation for software development and operation in the field of electromobility. Compleo's declared corporate goal is the continuous focus on technology leadership combined with an expansion of production in Germany and a growth strategy at European level.

Before the takeover, due diligence creates certainty

Acquiring and founding new companies is an important component of Compleo's growth strategy. In the concrete implementation, these growth steps bring with them great challenges, especially for IT. Adaptation and further development of the IT architecture become a demanding ongoing task.

After the takeover of wallbe GmbH in 2021 could also be managed technically with our own resources, it quickly became clear in the case of the innogy merger that an experienced PMI expert should accompany the process even before the contract was signed.

Starting in September 2021, noventum consulting consultants systematically recorded the existing IT (hardware, software, networks, resources, processes, locations, projects) and the company's data protection organisation in the due diligence of innogy IT and evaluated them financially. The results were positive and strengthened the desire to buy.

Milestones of the IT Post Merger Integration

After the signing, the final contract between Compleo and E.ON for the purchase of innogy on 31 October 2021, the post-merger integration of innogy's IT began. With adesso, a technical implementation partner was already on board for the practical implementation, and Frank Schlottbohm from noventum consulting took over the planning and management of the project.

The timetable for the PMI was extraordinarily tight. The closing of the acquisition was scheduled for the end of December and so due diligence and PMI merged seamlessly.

Compleo's IT strategy is based on "cloud first". Applications and infrastructures from innogy had to be checked for their cloud compatibility before the takeover and adapted if necessary.

Even before the closing, the integration of large parts was completed, so that shortly after the closing all innogy employees were equipped with end devices and could work in the technical environment of Compleo. They had access to all applications (Office, Sales Force, CRM, ERP). Data and mail were migrated to the new environment.

noventum consultants Judith Wagener and Frank Schlottbohm are very satisfied with the course and result of the integration: "Through the due diligence, we knew exactly what to expect and were able to make good use of the tight time frame. When all the important players are involved before the actual integration, such an IT merger has a completely different dynamic and accuracy".

Sophisticated HR integration

Those involved in a merger also include some specialist departments that are challenged by the takeover of another company. With the takeover of innogy eMoblity Solutions GmbH, the Compleo HR managers (PEOPLE) were faced with a diverse structure of employment contracts and company agreements that had to be recorded and evaluated before they could be transferred to the Compleo employment contract world.

Having emerged from a company founded by RWE back in 2008, innogy brought with it a multitude of agreements, pension entitlements and regulations for employees. Recording, evaluating and integrating the employment contracts proved to be a particular challenge. Compleo, also on the market since 2008, has fundamentally simpler structures. The tight timeframe did the rest to complicate the situation.

Without a detailed TSA (Transitional Service Agreement) between E.ON and Compleo, an appropriate situation had to be created in a short time. As an important part of the new organisational structure of Compleo as a whole, there were crucial points on the agenda for the HR department:

• Review and further development of PEOPLE processes
• Establishment and further development of the PEOPLE IT architecture
• PEOPLE Migration concepts for the merger of innogy GmbH
• Cut Over Plan
• Hypercare Plan

Target Operating Model and the target picture for future IT structures

Due to the acquisition of several companies in a short period of time as well as the establishment of an additional branch of business, Compleo's strategy, processes and systems are under pressure to be constantly reviewed and readjusted. This also affects IT, which is centrally involved in all major changes.

The target picture of the reorganisation is a Target Operating Model (TOM). The idea of such a model is the step-by-step adaptation and optimisation towards a target operating model that also has optimisation strategies for the future in mind. These can concern processes, performance, employees or the IT infrastructure. The definition of the steps between analysis and target model is subject to many influencing factors.

Thus, after the technical integration of innogy's processes into Compleo's central ERP is still a major challenge. The varying degree of complexity of IT processes is a particular hurdle here; in this specific case, Compleo's IT processes are significantly leaner than those of the absorbed company.

IT manager Christoph Heinen: "We managed due diligence and IT integration very favourably in terms of time and finances. Not least due to the high speed of integration, we were able to significantly reduce TSA costs. This makes us very optimistic for future planning and integration in detail."

More Information

Thank you for your interest in noventum's Post Merger Consulting.

If you would like to learn more about IT Mergers & Acquisitions, you can find information here.