Growing together. Five questions for Steffen Kleinhenz-Sonnenschein, Managing Director of Dr. Hoffmann Facility Services Group
August 2025 Frankfurt am Main
What was the initial situation when Beyond Capital Partners joined as an investor in December 2021?
Before the participation by Beyond Capital Partners in December 2021, Dr. Hoffmann Facility Services Group GmbH, then still known as Industriereinigung Dr. Hoffmann Gebäudedienste GmbH, was in a phase of transformation. The company employed around 800 people and generated sales of around EUR 20 million. The range of services offered focussed primarily on the area of industrial cleaning, with the sphere of activity extending from Munich to Augsburg. The company was led by Marléne Sternbaum, at that time the sole Managing Director. She had taken over the position following the retirement of her husband, Dr. Rainer Hoffmann, with the aim of establishing a structured succession solution at management level. The focus at the time was primarily on contracts from the public sector. The situation was characterised by a transitional phase in which the company focused on a sustainable succession plan and strategic development.
What milestones have been achieved since then?
On the one hand, the organisation was centralised while retaining the regional principle of individual companies. On the other hand, the strategy was adapted to ensure a standardised alignment of the company. Since the acquisition, the turnover of Dr. Hoffmann has almost quadrupled. In 2025, sales of around EUR 35 million are expected, with sales within the Group are expected to come in at around EUR 74 million. The range of services has been significantly expanded so that the company now operates on the market as a multi-service provider.
Since Beyond Capital Partners came on board, five add-on investments have been made. These acquisitions have expanded our range of services to cover the whole of Germany. Today, Dr. Hoffmann Group is a leading nationwide facility services provider. The focus has broadened from almost exclusively public sector clients into B2B clients from the private sector. Today, the group can display renowned references and clients, including global players. Our company now has a much stronger external presence. A new Group structure marks another milestone in our corporate development and our new claim ‘people.service.culture.’ emphasises the innovative and open corporate culture, from the broad range of services to the appreciation of each employee.
What are your success factors in facility management?
Our success factors in facility management are based on several pillars. These include a lean organisational structure and fast decision-making processes, which enable us to react flexibly and efficiently to customer requirements. Cooperation, proximity to our employees and customers and the concept of offering everything from a single source are further key success factors. Innovations such as AI, robotics and sensor technology help us to continuously improve our processes and make them more sustainable. Our commitment to ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) is also a key driver of our success. We support the UN United Nations Global Compact – the world’s largest corporate initiative for sustainable and responsible corporate governance. Furthermore, we have published our first sustainability report to make our progress transparent. On top of it, we introduced a Learning Management System which ensures the continuous education and high level of qualification of our employees and appointed an ESG Manager, a Compliance Officer and a Human Rights Officer. We are actively committed to reducing our CO₂ emissions, among others by converting our vehicle fleet. We compensate for unavoidable CO2 emissions, e.g. through our partnership with ConClimate. We have also introduced extensive employee benefits, such as company health management, company health insurance and comprehensive awareness training. Our Code of Conduct and a travel policy ensure clear standards and values within the company.
For us, these measures are not just obligations, but also opportunities to secure sustainable growth and further expand our position as an innovative, responsible service provider to support the needs of our customers in their own decision-making process.
What acquisitions have been made to date?
The first acquisition was Gebäudereinigung Daniel Baumann GmbH, based near Frankfurt am Main, in 2022. The aim was to strengthen the local presence in the Hessian region. Since the acquisition, the customer structure has primarily been in the private sector. With the gradual retirement of the founder, who also left the management team in 2024, the second management level was strengthened, which today successfully continues the operational and commercial business operations on its own under the guidelines of the parent company. Clamex Gebäudereinigung GmbH in Braunschweig in 2023 expanded the business in the middle and northern part of Germany. The former management team left shortly after the acquisition as planned and the business operations were seamlessly integrated into the Group structure. With the acquisition of S&M Services GmbH in Düsseldorf in the same year, the market in North Rhine-Westphalia was made accessible and the presence further expanded. The former Managing Director supported the integration over a period of six months. NR Facility Services GmbH in 2024 strengthened the company’s presence in the Greater Munich area. The former Managing Director also supported the integration until May 2025. In September 2025, ABRAXA Gebäudereinigungs- und Service GmbH in Munich was acquired. Over the past years, the Dr. Hoffmann Group has developed from a regional facility services company into one of Germany’s leading multi-service providers.
What is planned for the future and which target companies are being sought?
Further acquisitions in Germany and neighbouring countries are planned for the future, particularly in the revenue size bracket of each at least EUR 10 million. We are currently operating in a highly heterogeneous system landscape, which is typical after multiple acquisitions. We will consolidate these structures and create a scalable, audit-compliant financial architecture within the next years, ensuring full transparency and enabling data-driven decision-making across the organization. A further key ambition for us is to achieve a sustainable reduction in working capital. Furthermore, we have introduced different incentive schemes to motivate and reward our team, such as an exit participation in the form of virtual shares for the management or the Hoffman Card as a non-cash benefit that is exempt from tax and social security contributions for our employees. We also intend to offer additional services and, hence, will further strengthen and expand our facility management offering into adjacent segments. Our aim is to double our turnover in the coming years to become one of the top ten facility management service providers in the German market. To achieve this goal, we are focussing on innovative technologies such as robotics, AI and sensor technology to be perceived as a modern and innovative service provider. We will also continue to drive forward the development of our employer brand to further attract and retain qualified employees in the future.
