RITTERWALD Advises WIRO on the Establishment of an Energy Subsidiary
Having recently founded a new subsidiary under the name of WIR Wärme in Rostocker Wohnanlagen GmbH (“WIR”), the residential real estate company WIRO Wohnen in Rostock Wohnungsgesellschaft mbH (“WIRO”) has branched out into the energy sector with its own heating service provider and is making an active contribution to the switch to renewable energies in Rostock. Among the benefits for WIRO tenants are the modern heating technology and active management of heating system operation offered by the new company.
RITTERWALD advised WIRO extensively on structuring the business model and analyzing the financial potential.
WIR was founded as a subsidiary on September 21, 2016. On January 1, 2017 the new heat contractor was scheduled to begin managing all of the current 273 gas-fired central heating systems that supply heating and hot water to the more than 3,200 homes on WIRO’s books. WIR will be in charge of operational plant management, fuel purchasing, maintenance and servicing.
The heating systems will successively be replaced by modern and efficient technology from 2017 onward. Tenants have been informed about the changes to their heat supply and have been given an overview showing that the changeover from the old to the new heating price will be cost neutral. Utility bills will continue to be issued by WIRO, which remains the point of contact for tenants.
Besides taking over and gradually modernizing WIRO’s central heating systems, WIR will be successively replacing decentralized gas-fired boilers with central heating systems and will also operate the new systems as a heat contractor. This also applies to any new WIRO buildings that may be constructed. At the end of the process, WIR will be supporting as many as 7,600 residential units.
Furthermore, WIR will be investing in other technologies like solar thermal power and CHP plants in a bid to further reduce costs and CO2 emissions in the future.
About WIRO
WIRO is one of northern Germany’s largest and most efficient residential real estate companies, with around 36,000 homes and commercial units on its books and a workforce of almost 600 employees. Nearly one third of people in Rostock live in a WIRO home, with properties located across all districts of the Hanseatic city. Providing top-quality service, modern living space at fair rental prices, and a strong customer focus has been the company’s basis for achieving and living up to its position as a financially and socially responsible public sector landlord. For more information see www.wiro.de.
About WIR
WIR is WIRO’s new energy subsidiary and, from January 1, 2017, is operating all of WIRO’s gas-fired central heating systems on a heat contractor basis and successively modernizing them.
About RITTERWALD Unternehmensberatung GmbH
RITTERWALD is a delivery-focused consultancy with offices in Berlin and Frankfurt. We turn ideas into action. RITTERWALD has in-depth knowledge of the real estate sector along the entire value chain, combined with years of experience structuring heat contracting models in the real estate business. Operating at the interface between principal (the real estate sector) and agent (the energy, facility management, property management industries), we optimize costs, processes and organizations and structure business models. RITTERWALD offers both buy-side and sell-side advisory within M&A transactions, ensuring a structured process and coordinating all professional services to facilitate successful deal closure. For further information, please visit: www.ritterwald.de.
