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German businesses invest in Austria

Austria’s national investment promotion company supported a record number of 276 investment projects in 2014 - a rise of 21 percent from the previous year.

Published: 7 April 2015 12:43 CEST
German businesses invest in Austria
Photo: Shutterstock

In a press release,  ABA – Invest in Austria, said this was an all time high in the company’s 33-year history.

The number of new jobs created in Austria by companies setting up new business operations climbed by 79 percent to 2,645, compared to 1,479 new jobs in 2013.

Total investments rose by almost 7 percent to €371 million, up from €348 million in 2013.

“This comprises an outstanding success, which impressively proves that we are well-positioned when it comes to our business location policies, and that Austria continues to gain in attractiveness as a business location against the backdrop of international competition”, said Reinhold Mitterlehner, Austria’s Vice-Chancellor and Economics Minister.

Once again, Germany was the top investor, with 88 German companies establishing business operations in Austria with the support of ABA, an increase of almost 4 percent compared to 2013.

“There were several investments again in the double-digit million euro range, which is why the investment volume of €274.5 million generated by German companies was up about 40% from €196.7 million in the previous year,” said René Siegl, Managing Director of ABA.

A total of 43 Italian companies set up businesses in Austria with the support of ABA – five times more than ten years ago and an increase of 23 percent from 2013. Italy accounted for 15 percent of all of ABA’s business location projects.

There was also a striking increase in interest in Austria as a business location on the part of investors from Central and Eastern Europe and South East and Eastern Europe. This group accounted for 74 companies investing in Austria in 2014. The most important investor nations were Hungary with 24 projects and Russia with 13 new investments, followed by Slovenia (10) and Ukraine (8).

There was a growth in business location projects for production companies, as well as companies carrying out research and development in Austria.

The majority of foreign companies investing in Austria chose Vienna as their base (131 investment projects, compared to 104 in 2013), followed by Carinthia and Lower Austria.

According to ABA a typical example of a business choosing to locate in Austria is the medium-sized German company Schäflein Logistics GmbH from the State of Baden Württemberg, which constructed a logistics centre in Hallein.

CEO Achim Schäflein said that Austria was chosen as it “has many key industries such as automobile component suppliers as well as machinery and plant manufacturers, as well as good connections to Eastern European countries”.  

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BUSINESS

Where are Austria’s big international companies located?

Austria's most prominent international companies are involved in banking, insurance, and construction projects worldwide, many but are they all found in Vienna?

Published: 1 December 2023 11:33 CET
Where are Austria's big international companies located?

Here’s where each of the ten largest companies in Austria, by revenue generated last year, are located, both within Vienna and outside of the capital.

One of Central and Eastern Europe’s biggest insurance firms, the Vienna Insurance Group is headquartered in the capital. Their main offices are directly north of the Innere Stadt on Schottenring, close to the Rossau district.

A fellow insurance firm, the Uniqa Group, is located close by. Owning over fifteen significant insurance providers across Europe, they are market leaders alongside Vienna Insurance Group. Their headquarters can be found in the eponymous Uniqa Tower, on Ferdinandstraße close to the Karmeliterviertel.

Erste Group, one of the continent’s biggest providers of financial services, was founded just over two hundred years ago in Leopoldstadt, a suburb adjoining Vienna’s centre to the east. Today, the group is headquartered in the Erste Campus, less than a five-minute walk from Vienna’s central train station.

Founded in the fifties, OMV is the country’s largest oil and gas company. The company owns three European refineries, including one at Schwechat in Lower Austria, near the capital. The company is based in the Hoch Zwei building in the Second District, near the banks of the Danube.

Construction company Strabag, responsible for massive infrastructure projects across Europe and South East Asia, is located across the Danube from OMW, near the Austria Centre and the expansive Donaupark.

Banking giant Raiffeisen International is headquartered in the Weissgerberviertel, north of Vienna’s city centre. Other divisions, including their software development teams, are based throughout the city centre.

Construction company Porr Group, which has many subsidiaries in Austria and involvement in significant railway building projects throughout Europe, has headquarters in Vienna’s south, five kilometres away, in the Favoriten district.

Verbund AG, Austria’s largest energy provider, can also be found outside Vienna’s centre. It is based to the south-west, close to the Mariahilf district and the city’s Westbahnhof, or western train station.

Steel and technology group Voestalpine is located away from Vienna in Linz, Upper Austria, roughly equidistant between Salzburg and Vienna. The company’s headquarters can be found between the Spallerhof district and the Industriegebeit, or industrial area.

Finally, international metals and technology firm Andritz AG is also based outside Vienna, in Graz in Styria. Their headquarters is some distance from the city centre, in the district which gave the company its name: Graz-Andritz.

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