From a family-owned
business in Munich to a global group of companies: embark on a journey through the history of the Schörghuber Group.

The history of Bayerische Hausbau begins in the mid-1950s. The foundation is laid with a carpentry workshop in the village of Mitteraham near Mühldorf, which Josef Schörghuber Sr. hands over to his two sons, Josef and Leo, shortly after the end of the Second World War. The Schörghuber company's expertise in staircase construction makes it a key supplier during reconstruction in post-war Bavaria, which had suffered heavy damage. Josef Schörghuber, a civil engineer, recognizes the opportunity that growing success and the increasing demand for housing offers, and in 1954 he founds the property development company Bayerische Hausbau GmbH, of which he is sole managing director. Initial capital: 20,000 marks.

Acquisition of the site for Arabellapark

Arabellahaus topping-out ceremony

The hotel business has its beginnings in the Arabellahaus in Munich. It is here that Josef Schörghuber builds 700 residential units, among other things. The site is, however, zoned for commercial use only. The solution is to group some of the apartments together to create what is referred to as an "extended-stay hotel" that offers food and reception services. The majority of the units are combined to create a single hotel, which operates independently from 1970 onwards and is known under the name Arabella Hotel Bogenhausen. The following years see the addition of the Arabella Brauneck Hotel, the Olympiapark Hotel and the Arabella Alpenhotel am Spitzingsee, and later Arabella hotels in Frankfurt, Düsseldorf and Mallorca.

Construction of the Olympic Village

In 1977, Josef Schörghuber acquires a 93 percent stake in each of two Munich construction companies and a year later acquires shares in another construction company. In 1980, he merged these three companies to form Heilit + Wörner AG, creating one of the largest construction companies in Germany with more than 7,500 employees and an annual turnover of up to 900 million marks. But Heilit + Wörner quickly ran into problems: In the early eighties, the company makes losses in the three-digit million range. Schörghuber tries to compensate for this by selling some of its real estate and cutting jobs. Nevertheless, the construction companies remain a loss-making business. In 1986, Josef Schörghuber finally sells the majority shareholding in Heilit + Wörner to the Augsburg building contractor Ignaz Walter.

In July 1986, Stefan Schörghuber takes over the management of the parking garages built by his father in the course of his construction activities in Munich. He founds Bavaria Parkgaragen GmbH & Co. Autoservice KG and becomes Managing Director of the company, which manages around 2,200 parking spaces in Munich. As in many European cities, Munich is developing new traffic concepts and parking garages are becoming increasingly attractive. Whereas parking spaces in the garages were previously only allocated to long-term parkers, you can now get any temporary parking space for a fee. The parking spaces are also an attractive alternative to street parking with parking meters. This has a positive impact on the Bavaria parking garages. Today, the Bavaria parking garages are part of the Schörghuber family's private domain.

Although the beer market in Germany ranks second worldwide after the USA, the majority of Germany's breweries pay no attention to the foreign market for decades. Paulaner-Salvator-Thomasbräu AG, however, founds a joint venture in 1986 and thus acquires a stake in the company Compañía Cervecerías Unidas S.A. (CCU) in Chile. The government-owned monopoly brewery has a majority shareholding in ECUSA, Chile's largest supplier of non-alcoholic beverages, which is to be auctioned off in the wake of privatizing government-controlled industries. In 1987, the joint venture acquires approximately two thirds of CCU – and the Paulaner brewery uses its expertise to improve technology and the quality of the beer. Just one year later, CCU reports an output of 2.43 million hectoliters of beer and 2.47 million hectoliters of non-alcoholic beverages. This exceeds the output of Paulaner-Salvator-Thomasbräu AG and Hacker-Pschorr GmbH, which together account for approximately 2.3 million hectoliters of beer and 0.6 million hectoliters of non-alcoholic beverages. At the beginning of the 1990s, the Schörghuber Group expands its involvement in Chile and enters the wine business by acquiring shares in the stock corporation Viña San Pedro Tarapaca S.A. Within just a few years, CCU expands its wine-growing territory to 2,700 hectares, becoming the third largest producer and second largest exporter in Chile. In 2003, CCU is sold to the Dutch Heineken brewery group.

Schörghuber and the development of eastern Germany

Schörghuber and the development of eastern Germany

Josef Schörghuber establishes a foundation that provides financial assistance to children and adolescents from socially disadvantaged families. The Josef Schörghuber-Stiftung für Münchner Kinder enables them to participate in programs and activities organized during the school holidays that they would otherwise be unable to attend. The foundation is administered by Munich's social welfare department and over 7.2 million euros have been distributed since it was founded. This sum comprises interest earned on the initial endowment of three million marks and donations from private individuals and money raised during charity events organized by the Schörghuber group, such as the annual ArabellaClassics oldtimer rally and the Charity Golf Cup. The money has made it possible for more than 75,000 children and adolescents to take part in in recreational activities and activities organized during the school holidays.

Death of Josef Schörghuber

Stefan Schörghuber assumes responsibility for managing the group following the death of his father. The new CEO is well prepared to assume responsibility for the 4,500 employees in the group and the approximately two billion marks in revenue. At the age of 23, he had already assumed responsibility for the hotels division and had been driving expansion of the business division forward ever since. He had also represented the division on the executive board of the holding company since 1990. Stefan Schörghuber focuses on the economic aspects of the individual divisions and on streamlining the structure of the group. At the same time, he recognizes the necessities of the emerging globalization process at an early stage and concentrates on the strategic internationalization of the group in order to facilitate new growth.

MOM Park in Budapest

Joint venture with ITT Sheraton

The Arabella Golf brand is launched in 2022. It is conceived as an association of top-level golf courses at carefully selected locations and is already well known shortly after its launch. The brand owes its reputation to the beautiful scenic locations and the design of the courses, their maintenance and gastronomy. Today, the brand complements the hotel portfolio of Arabella Hospitality with eleven golf courses in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Spain - including legendary courses such as Golf Son Vida, the oldest golf course in Mallorca, and the European Tour destination course Golf Son Muntaner, host of the Mallorca Golf Open 2022. Arabella Golf Courses is considered one of the pioneers of sustainable golf in the industry. All courses on Mallorca are certified by the GEO Foundation for Sustainable Golf.

Joint venture with Heineken

In 2001, the Schörghuber couple acquired a 51 percent stake in the Chilean salmon producer Productos del Mar Ventisqueros S.A., which a biology professor friend of theirs had set up in the south of the country. Founded in 1989 and operating in the Los Lagos region south of Santiago de Chile, Ventisqueros covers the entire value chain of fish production - from egg to fillet. Alexandra Schörghuber looks after the company.

A renowned
construction project

Since 1999, Bayerische BrauHolding AG has held a 34.1 percent stake in Coca-Cola Erfrischungsgetränke AG in Berlin (CCE AG), Germany's largest soft drinks company. Stefan Schörghuber wants to set a different course and is focusing on regionality. He is concentrating on building up a southern German brewery network. The Schörghuber Group initially sells its shares in the Chilean beer company CCU and in 2007 the shares in CCE AG and thus the Coca-Cola concession are sold to the Coca-Cola Group.

Key representatives of the Bavarian state government and the City of Munich attend the funeral service, which is held on 4 December 2008 at St. Michael's Church in Munich. Horst Seehofer, minister-president of Bavaria, pays tribute to Stefan Schörghuber in his speech saying, "His example shows us what an individual, who is able to take visionary ideas and make them a reality, can achieve. He has thus made an important contribution to the outstanding reputation that Bavaria enjoys in Germany and in Europe."

Following the sudden death of Stefan Schörghuber, his widow, Alexandra Schörghuber, succeeds him as head of the family-owned company. She brings with her many years of experience gained in numerous supervisory and management positions in the family’s private business ventures. These include Bavaria Parkgaragen, lift and cable car companies, hotels and a salmon farm in Chile. She nevertheless has no interest in managing the group's business operations and reorganizes the management structure, which had been tailored to her husband. She establishes a six-member foundation board, which acts as a supervisory body for the Schörghuber Group's executive board. A four-member executive board is appointed in a second step. One of the most important maxims for Alexandra Schörghuber is that all decisions made are in line with the family's values. As she points out, what is important is "sustainable growth, not making a quick buck."

Submission of building application
BIKINI BERLIN

The demand for salmon is constantly increasing - which is why Productos del Mar Ventisqueros S.A., which has been family-owned since 2001, is growing rapidly. In 2011, Alexandra Schörghuber takes over the company in its entirety and transfers it from the family's holding to the Schörghuber Group. Following the sale of the aircraft leasing business a year earlier, Seafood becomes the fourth business division. Ventisqueros primarily supplies its products to the markets in Japan, the USA and Brazil and is one of Chile's top 10 producers of farmed salmon.

Project of the century: the brewery in Langwied

The Westin Hamburg welcomes its first guests in November 2016. The hotel extends over 21 floors in the Elbphilharmonie cultural and residential complex, which was designed by the renowned Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron. The Westin Hamburg offers 244 rooms, including 39 suites, and is one of the most prestigious properties in the Hotels division. In the first year following its opening, it is also already one of the most successful.

One of the Schörghuber Group's most important projects celebrates an impressive milestone: Arabellapark's 50th anniversary. The vibrant history of the visionary urban development began when the tenants moved into the Arabellahaus in 1969. To this very day, Arabellapark remains an integral part of Munich life and the city's economy.

Establishment of the
Stefan Schörghuber Foundation

Nico Nusmeier, a top executive from the Netherlands, takes over as CEO of the Schörghuber Group in July 2019. His predecessor, Dr. Klaus N. Naeve, retires as planned after more than ten years at the helm of the holding company. Nusmeier is no stranger to the group. He had been a member of the foundation board since 2014 and prior to that had represented Heineken at the shareholders' meetings of the joint venture Brau Holding International, now the parent company Paulaner Brewery Group, for seven years.

In the 1960s, the Spanish Mediterranean island of Mallorca became Josef Schörghuber's favorite vacation destination. In 1977, he founded the property development company Vibelba, which built residential and commercial buildings in Palma de Mallorca and other locations. Under Stefan Schörghuber, Bayerische Hausbau realized the luxurious Arabella Golf Hotel, which opened in 1992. Four years later, the 5-star luxury resort Mardavall Hotel & Spa welcomes its first guests. The hotels are part of the quality tourism concept that Stefan Schörghuber has successfully introduced to Mallorca. An important component is the golf courses, including legendary courses such as Golf Son Vida, the oldest golf course in Mallorca, and the European Tour destination course Golf Son Muntaner. Sustainability is a central theme here. The courses use recycled water, green energy and local products, avoid waste, plant water-saving grasses and olive trees - and are regarded in the industry as one of the pioneers of sustainable golf. All courses on Mallorca are certified by the GEO Foundation for Sustainable Golf and have been carbon neutral since 2020.

Transformation and two new board members

Just seven years after moving to the new brewery in Langwied, and thanks in no small part to the sensational success of Paulaner Spezi, the Paulaner brewery again reaches maximum production capacity and is at times unable to keep up with the significant increase in demand. Acquisition of a state-of-the-art brewery in Gotha from the Oettinger Brewery Group means that the Paulaner brewery has secured approximately 1.4 million hectoliters of brewing capacity, thus fulfilling the prerequisites for continued profitable growth.

Arabella Hospitality opens the first-ever Rosewood Hotels & Resorts hotel in Germany in the historical heart of Munich. The ultra-luxury establishment was developed behind the historical facades of Kardinal-Faulhaber-Strasse 1 and the Palais Neuhaus-Preysing by Bayerische Hausbau Development under the name KF1 and symbolizes the new strategy in the Hotels division.
Arabella Hospitality focuses on sustainable growth in three main areas: City Core+, Upscale Leisure and Ultra Luxury. The aim is to double the number of hotels by 2037, with focus placed on the core markets Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Spain.