Studio Guest: Bernhard Jünemann

Our studio guest is Bernhard Jünemann, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Börse-Online DW-TV: Evonik wants to be in the major league of equity trading. Evonik has given itself five years before it goes on the market and says in five years it wants to be a member of the DAX 30. Very ambitious. Does it have what it takes? Bernhard Jünemann: They have an ambitious program. They want to raise the company value four-fold within this five years. And they have different parts with chemicals, with energy, and with real estate. So I think they have a good foundation to do that. DW-TV: And part of that foundation comes from private equity – good or bad? Bernhard Jünemann: It shows that private equity sees a future in this company. So that probably could help to raise trust in Evonik. DW-TV: Here in Germany, private equity firms have gotten kind of a bad rep, seen as being "locusts" coming in, taking the good parts of a company and getting rid of the rest. That doesn't seem to be the fear at Evonik. Bernhard Jünemann: No, because it is basically a very big company, so they wouldn’t really do that. They normally do that with small companies, where they have greater influence. And it’s just a quarter, so they won’t be able to do that. On the other hand, some expertise comes in, and some pushing forward of the management, and that would be good. DW-TV: Let’s talk a little bit about the structure of Evonik. Evonik is a conglomerate. It has three major sections. There was a while, just a couple years ago we were talking about the baggage, the negative aspects of being a conglomerate, particularly on the stock market. Today it seems the music is different. Bernhard Jünemann: It is different because we have a lot of shocks. And it shows that maybe a conglomerate with some diversity is better able to buffer these shocks. But you have to look at the single case. And you really have to calculate – what are the parts that are put together? I wouldn’t say that a conglomerate as such is always better than a single company. It depends on the single case. DW-TV: And you think that in the Evonik’s case, it’s a good example? Bernhard Jünemann: That remains to be seen. We don’t have that much experience with Evonik. If they have this ambitious program, they might realize that they have to sell one or the other part. We’re going to see. DW-TV: And that of course that could happen after the IPO. And speaking of IPOs, we don’t hear a lot about floatations right now. We want to show our viewers exactly what’s been going on on the DAX 30 market in the last couple of years. And you can see that companies on the DAX 30 this year alone have lost a lot of market value. It looks like we’re in a longer bear market right now. Would it be wise for companies to hold off on the floatation right now? Bernhard Jünemann: That’s the reason they have taken in the private investor – because they won’t get the price they want to get. So if they do not need to go to the market, it’s better to wait. Banks, for instance – they have to raise capital, they have to go to the market, that’s different. And they have to do it with a price, they’re not happy with it. DW-TV: Let’s get back to Evonik for the moment. They want to do an IPO, they want this to happen quickly in just five years. Should we be suspicious of companies when they go basically from creation to DAX 30 in such a short span of time? Bernhard Jünemann: No. I mean, five years, it’s not that short, really. It’s maybe short for a former state company moving to the private sector. But in general, five years is quite a long time. Many things can happen then. DW-TV: That is indeed the truth. Interview: Brent Geoff

DW-World | August 5, 2008

Tags:. .energy. .wait. .seems. .doesnt. .bit