“We were a start-up with 20,000 employees”

To mark our company’s tenth anniversary, we are looking back on the past decade through a series of ten interviews with colleagues. Each describes the last ten years from their own perspective. Christian Korf is the first to share his thoughts.

The Apleona brand and company will be ten years old this autumn, although some of its roots are actually considerably older. In October 2016, CEO Dr Jochen Keysberg announced the then-new name for the entire property division at the Expo Real property and location trade fair in Munich.

Christian Korf is General Counsel and, in this role, has accompanied Apleona through all stages of its development since its inception. He was also closely involved during the start-up phase and in the sale to the first owner, EQT. This makes him the ideal interviewee to open our series of interviews marking Apleona’s milestone anniversary.

Looking back, into which phases would you divide Apleona’s development history?

Parts of our company’s history do, in fact, go back considerably further than ten years. The decisive moment was the launch of what is now Apleona at Expo 2016, with the announcement of the new company name. Since then, as an independent company with strong support from our new private-equity owners, we have been able to really get going and finally put many of our ideas into practice. At the time, we described ourselves as a start-up with 20,000 employees. This was followed by a phase of refining our business model. Subsequently, a phase of very strong growth began, featuring numerous acquisitions, which reached their preliminary peak in 2023 with the acquisition of what was then the Gegenbauer Group and the associated market leadership in Germany. We are now in a phase of continued strong growth, focusing on the whole of Europe and the EMEA region, as well as further expanding our expertise in the areas of innovation, AI and decarbonisation.

What has been the most remarkable thing for you personally over the last 10 years?

That’s an easy one for me to answer. It’s the many wonderful people and dedicated colleagues with whom we’ve worked to develop Apleona into a truly exciting company.

And for the company, what would you certainly not have expected in autumn 2016, looking back to today?

Given the very ambitious growth trajectory outlined at the time, I was occasionally sceptical as to whether we, together with our operational teams, would really achieve our annual targets and budgets year after year. Today, however, with a turnover of more than 4.5 billion, we are the undisputed market leader in Germany and are also successful throughout Europe. The plan has indeed paid off, and I am optimistic that we will continue to succeed.

What would you have liked to have done without over the last 10 years?

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2021–22 was a real turning point. I greatly admired how, through rigorous management, we managed to weather the crisis relatively well financially whilst also protecting our colleagues. After all, since then – at least in my view – the image of the FM sector has improved significantly among our clients and investors. Our services as crisis managers were highly valued back then and remain so today, and in the financial world, the FM sector is now regarded as very resilient.

Which people at Apleona have impressed you the most over the last 10 years?

One group is certainly well worth mentioning. We have become much more professional over the last ten years – thanks to many young, bright people who, together with us, are rethinking experienced FM and, above all, shaping its future. I personally find that really enjoyable.

If you look 10 years ahead, where do you see Apleona in 2036?

I’m really very excited to see how we can further enhance our appeal as an employer to support our continued strong growth. And with our AI-based innovations, we naturally aim to become the market leader in Europe!