Corporate Structure
Vonovia SE, the parent company of the Vonovia Group, is organized in the legal form of a dualistic European company (SE) and is domiciled in Germany. Vonovia SE is directed by a Management Board, which is responsible for conducting business and defining the Group’s strategy. Implementation occurs in close coordination with the Supervisory Board, which is regularly briefed by the Management Board regarding the development of business, strategy and potential opportunities and risks. The Supervisory Board oversees the activities of the Management Board.
Vonovia is entered in the Bochum company register (company register no. HRB 16879). The company’s registered headquarters are in Bochum, Universitätsstraße 133. As of December 31, 2019, 620 legal entities/companies formed part of the Vonovia Group. A detailed list of Vonovia SE shareholdings is appended to the Notes to the consolidated financial statements.
Vonovia SE performs the function of the management holding company for the Group. In this role, it is responsible for determining and pursuing the overall strategy and implementing the company’s goals. It also performs property management, financing, service and coordination tasks for the Group. Furthermore, it is responsible for the management, control and monitoring system as well as risk management of the Group.
In order to carry out its management functions, Vonovia SE has established a series of service companies, particularly for commercial and operational support functions, which are centralized in shared service centers. By pooling the corporate functions on a uniform service platform, Vonovia achieves harmonization, standardization and economies of scale objectives, and the other Group companies thus do not need to perform such functions themselves. This bundling is a prerequisite for the efficient and effective management of a portfolio of approximately 355,700 apartments. Furthermore, this structure is a prerequisite for the successful digitalization of the process chains. In the development business, dedicated companies are often set up for development projects. In Sweden and Austria, the business is managed by country-specific organizations that are set up based on the same model.
The management of the operating business is based on the company’s strategic approaches and is conducted via the four segments: Rental, Value-add, Recurring Sales and Development. Details on the management of our business can be found in the chapter Management System.
Vonovia’s Scalable Organizational Model: Strong Regional Presence and Efficient Central Shared Services
Vonovia’s core operating rental business in Germany is now divided into four business areas following the introduction of a new regional structure as of the third quarter of 2019. These business areas are split into regional areas, which are in turn split into individual regions. Each region is responsible for an average of around 5,100 local residential units. The optimization of our management structures resulted in the East and Southeast areas and the Central and West areas being consolidated, reducing the total number of business areas from six to four accordingly. The level comprising the regional areas acts as an interface between the management and the regional managers responsible for the regional portfolios. The measure is aimed at allowing us to respond better to strategic Rental issues on site, as the regional managers are responsible for a smaller number of apartments, meaning that they are closer to our customers. The caretaker, craftsmen’s and residential environment organization is also based on a regional structure.
Responsibility for the other activities that belong to the Value-add Business, i. e., in particular product management, such as metering and energy services, and portfolio management, such as vertical expansion and modernization, is centralized. This also applies to activities relating to sales and acquisition.
The development business is also managed centrally for both Austria and Germany.