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München, 6/9/2008

200 needy people the first winners in the “850 bicycles for Munich” initiative

Munich mayor Christian Ude applauded BIS AG’s social commitment and, as a symbolic gesture, took delivery of one of the bicycles for the homeless on behalf of the Munich City Social Foundation

Bilfinger Berger Industrial Services AG (BIS AG) demonstrated its commitment as a premium partner to the City of Munich by donating 200 bicycles for the needy as part of the celebrations honouring the city’s 850th birthday.  200 homeless citizens are thus the first winners of the “850 bicycles for Munich” initiative. Mayor Christian Ude accepted one of the bicycles from Thomas Töpfer, CEO of BIS AG, on behalf of the Munich Social Foundation in the magnificent surroundings of the city's town hall on Monday, 5 May 2008. The other bicycles were provided at the beginning of June.

Together with Katharina Knäusl, head of the foundation’s administration, Mr. Ude applauded the fact that the bicycles were being donated to the needy, specifically homeless people who are currently accommodated in city facilities. They will also be permitted to keep their new bicycles when they move into apartments of their own.  This also applies to citizens living in independent facilities, some of which have workshops in which the bicycles can be maintained and minor repairs executed.

Said Mayor Christian Ude: “I am particularly pleased that BIS AG’s commitment is also benefiting those who have not been blessed with good fortune in this rich city of Munich. After all, the celebrations marking Munich’s 850th birthday have been given the motto “building bridges”. This means building bridges between people from different origins and of different religions, skin colours, generations or persuasions, young and old, rich and poor. The Munich Social Foundation has been specially established for the city’s 850th anniversary and seeks to build bridges between people in need and those able to help. Together with a further two charities, Stiftung Soziales München der Stadtsparkasse and SWM Bildungsstiftung, it is making a crucial contribution to ensuring that the celebrations marking Munich’s 850th birthday will unleash a sustained positive effect on the social climate in our city and strengthen our city’s cohesion.”

Speaking on behalf of BIS AG, CEO Töpfer had this to say: “As a company with a technical slant, we are donating high-quality, solid bicycles on the occasion of Munich’s 850th birthday. This is appropriate given the high leisure quality which the Munich metropolitan region offers cyclists and also seeks to draw attention to our company as an attractive employer. We were very pleased to receive the opportunity of assisting the foundation. The bicycles have a market value of around EUR 600 each and are being raffled in conjunction with media partners in Munich”.

BIS AG has been based in Munich for 25 years. Over the past few years, it has been operating with enormous success and, with a full range of industrial services, plays a leading role in Europe. With its commitment to the Munich jubilee celebrations, the company is seeking to introduce itself to a broad audience as an employer which is looking for experienced staff and is also able to offer school leavers and graduates training as well as interesting career perspectives. Says Töpfer: “Industrial services have remained personnel-intensive and are increasingly entailing management tasks and engineering services. At the same time, however, they are still dependent on the skills of experienced staff. Rather than declining, industrial work offers jobs and perspectives.  We attach particular important to training for both school leavers and university graduates.”

As a growth company, BIS AG is also a partner to the “850 talents for Munich” job initiative in this jubilee year. The Company will be displaying aspects of modern industrial services business in a readily understandable manner as part of its exhibition at Stachus during the Altstadtringfest celebrations on 19 - 20 July.

     

Thomas Topfer, CEO of BIS AG, with Munich mayor Christian Ude and Katharina Knäusl, head of the Munich Social Foundation

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