Editing Strabag (section)

==History==
===Origins===
The business has its origins in two businesses:

*Baumeister Lerchbaumer-Isola-KG, which was founded as a craft workshop business known in 1835.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.strabag.com/databases/internet/_public/content.nsf/web/EN-STRABAG.COM-geschichte_strabag.html|title=STRABAG SE - Corporate history|last=POPPE|first=Roland|website=www.strabag.com|language=de|access-date=2019-04-14}}</ref> The business was developed by Anton Lerchbaumer (1879–1954)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.spittal-drau.at/fileadmin/spittal/stadtjournal/Stadtjournal_Feber2008.pdf|title=Auf Schritt und Tritt...|publisher=Der Spittaler Fasching|date=1 February 2008|access-date=6 June 2024}}</ref> and his son-in-law, Franz Isola (1901–1968). It evolved to become Baumeister Lerchbaumer-Isola-KG in 1929. In 1954 Anton Lerchbaumer senior died. Franz Isola became the sole manager of the largest private building company in Austria. In 1968 Franz Isola died and Anton Lerchbaumer junior (1913–1974) became manager of the company. The company became known as ILBAU AG in 1972.<ref name="auto"/>
*Strassenwalzenbetrieb was founded in 1895 and known as STRABAG from 1930.<ref name="history">{{Cite web|url=https://www.strabag.com/databases/internet/_public/content.nsf/web/EN-STRABAG.COM-geschichte_strabag.html|title=STRABAG SE - Corporate history|first=Roland|last=POPPE|website=www.strabag.com}}</ref>

===Holocaust profiteering===

Strabag was one of the main profiteers of the Nazi building projects during [[World War II|Second World War]] and before. It was a main contractor of [[Todt organisation]] and built concentration camps, the [[Westwall]] and Norway's [[Blood Road]].<ref>Gogl, Simon, Laying the foundations of occupation, 2020, p. 238f.</ref> The British Secret Service report concluded "[. . .] Enough large building firms offered their services to put the entire construction [of the Westwall, S.G.] on a voluntary basis. [. . .] Nor is there any basis later for assuming that firms in any large numbers became so reluctant to work for the OT as to make mass conscriptions of such concerns necessary. This willingness is due to the attractive profits obtainable from OT contracts."<ref>Handbook of the Organisation Todt, 1945, p. 53</ref>

===Later history===
These two businesses came under the common ownership of BIBAG Bauindustrie Beteiligungs Aktiengesellschaft (subsequently renamed STRABAG SE) – a company listed on the [[Wiener Börse|Vienna Stock Exchange]] – in 1998.<ref name="history" /> In 1999, STRABAG acquired Strabag. In the same year, the company was delisted from the Vienna Stock exchange.<ref name="history" />

In 2000, the holding company Bauholding STRABAG (or STRABAG SE since 2006) started a strong brand strategy throughout Europe, unifying all under the core brand "STRABAG". In Austria ILBAU and STUAG merged into the new STRABAG AG. The following year, the holding company became the major shareholder in German company STRABAG AG (based in Cologne).<ref name=history/>

Subsequent acquisitions included Deutsche Asphalt GmbH<ref>{{cite web|url=https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52020M9666&rid=4|title=Case M.9666 – Deutsche Asphalt/KEMNA BAU Andrae/Heideasphalt|publisher=European Commission|accessdate=6 January 2021}}</ref> in 2002, Walter Bau Group in 2005, a majority stake in Ed. Züblin in 2005, Adanti SpA, KIRCHNER Holding GmbH, F. Kirchhoff AG and Deutsche Telekom Immobilien und Service GmbH in 2008.<ref name=history/>

In 2007, STRABAG SE launched its [[initial public offering]] on the Vienna Stock exchange.<ref name=history/>

In December 2013 the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic confirmed that one of the companies of the STRABAG Group participated in bid rigging cartel of construction companies (together with companies of [[Skanska]] group and [[Mota-Engil]] group) in 2004. Illegal conduct was associated with the tender for the execution of works for the construction of the D1 highway from [[Mengusovce]] to [[Jánovce]] in Eastern Slovakia.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.antimon.gov.sk/3109-en/the-supreme-court-upheld-the-decisions-of-the-antimonopoly-office-of-the-slovak-republic-in-the-matter-of-cartel-of-six-construction-companies/|title=The Supreme Court upheld the decisions of the Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic in the matter of cartel of six construction companies|date=19 August 2021|website=www.antimon.gov.sk}}</ref>

In May 2022, Thomas Bull, a director appointed by the third largest shareholder, Rasperia Trading, which is owned by Russian entrepreneur [[Oleg Deripaska]], was removed from the board to ensure compliance with the [[International sanctions during the Russian invasion of Ukraine|EU sanctions]] against Deripaska.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.vindobona.org/article/strabag-se-removes-russian-voice-on-supervisory-board|title=Construction Giant Strabag Removes Russian Voice on Supervisory Board|date=5 May 2022|newspaper=Vindobona|access-date=14 September 2023}}</ref>

In October 2024, Strabag sold its 6% shareholding in [[GySEV]] to the [[Government of Hungary]].<ref>[https://hungarytoday.hu/government-buys-out-austrian-railway-giant-strabags-majority-stake/ Government Buys out Strabag's Hungarian-Austrian Railway Stakes] ''Hungary Today'' 13 September 2024</ref><ref>[https://www.railjournal.com/financial/hungary-achieves-majority-stake-in-gysev/ Hungary achives majority stake in GySEV] ''[[International Railway Journal]]'' 9 October 2024</ref>