The following joint management report combines the management report of the MLP Group and the management report of MLP AG in accordance with § 315 (3) in connection with § 298 (3) of the German Commercial Code (HGB).
The values disclosed in the following have been rounded to one decimal place. As a result, differences to reported total amounts may arise when adding up the individual values.
Broad range of services
The MLP Group (MLP) is the partner for all financial matters – for private clients, companies and institutional investors. Four brands represent a broad range of services:
Client requirements in focus
The views and expectations of our clients always represent the starting point in each of these fields. Building on this, we then present our clients with suitable options in a comprehensible way so that they can make the right financial decisions themselves. For the implementation we examine the offers of all relevant product providers in the market. Our products are selected and rated on the basis of substantiated market and product analyses.
MLP Finanzdienstleistungen AG: Focus on individual professional groups
Since it was founded by Manfred Lautenschläger and Eicke Marschollek in 1971, MLP has consistently striven to establish long-term relationships with its clients. This requires profound understanding of their individual requirements, which is why the approximately 2,000 client consultants at MLP Finanzdienstleistungen AG each focus on a professional group. MLP’s clients primarily include physicians, economists, engineers and lawyers. We support these clients in all financial matters – from old-age provision and wealth management, through health and non-life insurance, all the way up to financing, real estate brokerage and banking business.
Supervisory requirements
As a financial institution, MLP Finanzdienstleistungen AG is supervised by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) and represents the controlling company of the Financial Holding Group in terms of the supervisory regulations.
As an insurance broker, MLP Finanzdienstleistungen AG is also committed to selecting the most suitable product options for clients from the broad scope of offers in the market. These concepts clearly set us apart from the majority of players in the market, who either only offer their own products or a very limited selection of third party products.
Transparent partner and product selection process
MLP places great emphasis on the use of objective and transparent criteria when selecting partners and products. An analysis and quality check of the providers in the market, as well as their respective products, are performed on the basis of client requirements.
Diversification at an advanced stage
In addition to its private client business, the MLP Group has also been establishing a portfolio for corporate clients, institutional investors and high net-worth individuals since 2004. Since 2014, we have also strengthened our activities in the field of real estate brokerage. In addition to this, new potential was developed in the field of non-life insurance in the reporting year with the acquisition of the DOMCURA Group (DOMCURA). With the continuous expansion of our business model and new additions to our core competencies, we have created further stable pillars to secure the sustainable success of our company.
DOMCURA – The non-life insurance specialist
The acquisition of Schwarzer Familienholding GmbH (hereinafter referred to as DOMCURA Group) represents another milestone in terms of the ongoing diversification of revenue streams. As an underwriting agency, the DOMCURA Group examines all offers in the market when designing, developing and implementing its extensive coverage concepts in the field of non-life insurance, which are used by market actors. The DOMCURA Group will maintain and significantly expand this successful business model. At the same time, there is considerable potential in the interaction with MLP’s existing business. You can find more information on this in the chapter entitled “Performance”. In addition, the DOMCURA Group also includes specialist brokers for commercial and industrial insurance.
FERI – Wealth management with independent research
As an investment expert for institutional investors and high net-worth individuals, the FERI Group (FERI) offers services in the areas of investment management, investment consulting and investment research.
In the Investment Management business segment, FERI Trust GmbH offers a broad spectrum of wealth management services in all asset classes. These range from the development and implementation of individual investment strategies, right through to quantitative risk spreading and control. Investment consulting involves long-term advisory services to major institutional investors and the provision of family office services to high net-worth families. Among other things, the core services at FERI EuroRating Services AG comprise investment ratings for funds and real estate products, as well as credit ratings for loans and mortgage bonds.
TPC: Sector concepts for occupational pension provision management
As a specialist in occupational pension provision management, TPC GmbH (TPC) offers companies and associations consultancy services covering all issues relating to occupational pension provision and remuneration. Companies benefit from a full portfolio of services – ranging from needs analyses, to individual concept development and implementation, right through to continuous inspection of existing occupational old-age provision systems. The key focus here is on providing consulting services to small and medium-sized companies from various sectors, as well as employer consulting services to tax advisers, auditors, solicitors, physicians and architects.
Qualifications and further training of key importance
Qualifications and further training play an important part in our company’s ability to guarantee sustainably high quality consulting services. You can find more detailed information on this in the chapter entitled “Employees and consultants”.
Represented throughout Germany
The registered office of MLP AG, the holding company, and also MLP Finanzdienstleistungen AG is located in Wiesloch, Germany, where all internal divisions are centralised. In addition, we are represented by our client consultants and offices in all German urban centres, including all important university locations. TPC has its headquarters in Hamburg; DOMCURA in Kiel. Alongside its HQ in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, FERI also maintains further national and international locations in Munich, Düsseldorf, Zurich, Luxembourg and Vienna.
MLP is organised as a holding company, in which central management duties are performed by the Group’s parent company, MLP AG. The three subsidiaries MLP Finanzdienstleistungen AG, FERI AG and Schwarzer Familienholding GmbH (DOMCURA Group) are directly subordinate to it (see graphic). The business divisions each carry end-to-end accountability for results. This organisation reflects the Group’s strategic goals and client requirements.
MLP Finanzdienstleistungen AG holds a banking licence and is registered as an insurance broker for the brokerage of insurance contracts. MLP Finanzdienstleistungen AG includes TPC GmbH in Hamburg, ZSH GmbH Finanzdienstleistungen (ZSH) in Heidelberg, MLPdialog GmbH in Wiesloch and MLP Hyp GmbH in Wiesloch, which we operate together with the mortgage financing broker Interhyp AG in Munich.
The main fields of business conducted by FERI AG are investment management, investment consulting and investment research, both for institutional and private clients, at FERI Trust GmbH, Bad Homburg v.d.H. As a registered ratings agency under EU law, FERI EuroRating Services AG, Bad Homburg v.d.H. provides research, rating and selection services exclusively for institutional clients (banks, insurance companies, asset managers and pension funds) in the fields of funds, real estates and issuers/issues.
In the reporting period, FEREAL AG was also approved as a capital management company by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). As such, FERI now complies with the requirements of the AIFM Directive (Alternative Investment Fund Manager Directive), which the German legislator transposed in the form of the Capital Investment Code (KAGB). FEREAL AG offers both issuance and structuring services for alternative investments and fixed asset investments.
The main companies and affiliations in Germany and abroad include FERI Trust (Luxembourg) S.A., which acts as fund manager and coordinates the entire fund structuring and fund floating process, as well as Michel & Cortesi Asset Management AG, which offers investment solutions for private and institutional investors. In the reporting period, FERI Trust AG (Switzerland) was merged with Michel, Cortesi & Partners AG (Switzerland), which was acquired in autumn 2014, to create Michel & Cortesi Asset Management AG (Switzerland). In the field of real estate, FERI AG holds investments in CORESIS Management GmbH, as well as in US Treuhand Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH, which specialises in the US real estate market.
The acquisition of the DOMCURA Group in the second half of 2015 was another milestone in the diversification of revenue streams in the MLP Group. The key subsidiaries include DOMCURA AG and F&F Makler AG. As an underwriting agency, DOMCURA examines all offers in the market when designing, developing and implementing its extensive coverage concepts for private and commercial clients in the field of non-life insurance that are used by market actors. F&F Makler AG encompasses the broker business segment. Among others, this includes specialist brokers for commercial and industrial products.
Economic developments in Germany have a significant impact on the business model of the MLP Group, as the company generates almost all of its revenue in this country. Particularly important indicators in this regard are economic growth, the general savings rate, developments on the employment market and salary levels, which are described in further detail in the chapter entitled “Economic report – National economic climate”. The results of operations are influenced even more acutely by market conditions in the consultancy areas of old-age provision, health insurance and wealth management, which we analyse in the corresponding chapters of the “Economic report”. Another important factor is the regulatory environment, which is examined in more detail in the chapter entitled “Economic report – regulation and competition”.
The Executive Board at MLP AG consists of three members. Beside the Chairman of the Board, Dr. Uwe Schroeder-Wildberg (Chairman of the Board), Manfred Bauer (Product Management) and Reinhard Loose (Finance), are also members of the Executive Board, which is thereby unchanged.
The Supervisory Board, which is required to monitor the Executive Board under German law, comprised six members. At his own request, Johannes Maret left the MLP AG Supervisory Board at the end of the Annual General Meeting held in the reporting year. Tina Müller, Chief Marketing Officer and member of the Management Board at Opel Group GmbH, was elected to the Supervisory Board in his place.
In the reporting period, the Executive Board contracts of Dr. Matthias Klöpper (Finance) and Dr. Heinz-Werner Rapp (Chief Investment Officer) at FERI AG were extended.
