Schottel and elkon, the Turkish specialist for marine electrical system integration, will operate as partners in the maritime market in the future. The corresponding contract for the purchase of the majority stake in elkon by the holding company Schottel Industries GmbH has now been signed in Istanbul, Turkey, and announced at the Nor-Shipping trade fair in Oslo, Norway.
With the takeover, Schottel intends to grow even stronger from a strategic point of view: “With elkon as a renowned and very successful supplier of electrical power system engineering, design and integration for vessels, we will be able to achieve this,” Stefan Kaul, Schottel CEO said in a statement announcing the acquisition. “We will expand our portfolio to include everything regarding generation, distribution, storage and management of electrical energy on board of vessels. Schottel becomes a complete system supplier for electrical and green propulsion.”
Schottel will take over the majority stake in elkon from the family investment house Vera Capital; the minority stake will remain with elkon’s senior engineers and management. elkon will become a legally independent subsidiary of Schottel Industries GmbH, a holding company which, in addition to Schottel GmbH, already includes automation and gearbox technology companies.
Founded in 1980, Elkon Elektrik (elkon) has been involved in the development, design, assembly, engineering and integration of systems in the area of electrical propulsion technology, electric systems and automation for the maritime industry for more than 40 years.
In the overall scope of both companies, energy-efficient propulsion concepts, hybridization and electrification are now offered in a complementary way. There is a particular overlap in the field of propulsion hybridization in the newbuild and conversion business. The customer advantage lies in the expansion of both portfolios and the possible commissioning of turnkey solutions for propulsion systems and system integration. On both sides, the option to integrate respective market partners remains available, Schottel officials said.
“In the past, Schottel and elkon have already been contracted independently of each other in projects on several occasions,” said Ertuğ Yaşar, managing director at elkon. “They involved virtually every possible vessel type, from tugs and ferries to offshore vessels. Both companies thus play an important role in the customers’ decision-making process. In the longer term, they will benefit from each other and further develop, especially towards Green Propulsion.”
With this acquisition, elkon will take an important leap forward in internationalization,” Schottel officials said. In addition to the current regional focus on Europe, some Caspian sea countries and Middle East as well as North America, the customers of the system integrator based in Tuzla (Istanbul) will benefit from the global reach of the Schottel network. It comprises more than 170 service engineers as well as service locations in all over the world.
“Both companies are among the competence leaders in their respective areas of influence — a position they have earned through decades of reliability and a keen focus on customer interests,” said Andreas Block, general manager of Schottel Industries GmbH. “The focus is now on combining the competences in the long term and in letting them unfold in a financially strong environment, in order to ideally cover the future requirements.”
The takeover is expected to take effect this spring, following a review by the antitrust authorities.
