1979
EXPERTISE AND THE RIGHT IDEA
Towards the end of the 1970s, Jürgen Gelf is tasked with sourcing a mainframe computer for his employer. In the course of his research, he discovers the second-hand IT market. At the time, this sort of equipment is very expensive, but mainframe systems are regularly maintained and overhauled by the manufacturers. This ensures that they can be used for a long time and resold again and again.
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Gelf quickly realizes how he can use his knowledge in this market. In 1979, he sets up a company, Computer Handels Gesellschaft (CHG), and offers companies his support in buying and selling IT equipment. He starts trading in used mainframe computers, initially as a sideline from home.
1980s
NON-CAPTIVE LEASING SOLUTIONS
Just a few months later, CHG is offering finance to customers at their request. At the time, leasing is not a well-established concept in Germany, but it represents the ideal solution for many companies. Independent of manufacturers and banks, CHG seeks out suitable equipment and the most appropriate form of financing. Leasing becomes our core business.
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The company’s success soon necessitates a move out of our founder’s family home. CHG’s first offices are set up in Berg near Ravensburg in Germany in 1986, with an initial workforce of over 20.
1990s
CONSULTANCY AND SERVICE AT A TIME OF TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE
Computer technology has changed since the late 1980s. Smaller and cheaper PCs are replacing office systems with large mainframe computers. Initially, it is unclear whether this trend will continue, creating challenging times for the entire IT industry.
But CHG believes in these new, decentralized technologies.
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With the introduction of PCs, the number of devices used in companies grows, their lifecycles become shorter and, as a result, the logistical effort increases. This prompts CHG to focus even more on consultancy and service, and increasingly offers its customers solutions that cover the entire lifecycle of their IT equipment.
In 1999, we launch our TESMA technology and service management system®. The application gives our customers access to their technical and commercial data in a single location. Since 2020, customers’ employees can even order their own equipment via the TESMA® self-service portal.
A number of acquisitions in the 1990s provide the springboard for CHG to grow internationally. The most important is that of FGM-Meridian, a competitor of about the same size based in Hessen, Germany. Our name changes to CHG-MERIDIAN in 1996, and we become a stock corporation in 1997.
2000s
GOING INTERNATIONAL
The renaming to CHG-MERIDIAN AG in 1997 paves the way for us to go international, and we establish our first foreign subsidiaries in the UK and Austria in 2000. We continue to open up more and more markets, most recently with the takeover in 2018 of equigroup, a technology financing business based in Australia, which gives us access to the booming Australia/New Zealand region.
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In 2003, the international CHG-MERIDIAN Group moves into its new headquarters in Weingarten, Germany, which is expanded in 2016.
We also add further technology sectors, such as healthcare technology in 2004. In 2011, we add finance solutions for production facilities and machinery, logistics equipment, and material handling vehicles. Today, we support over 12,000 customers in all three technology sectors.
2010s
THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Thanks to the triumph of PCs in the 1990s, our founding principle, the circular economy, becomes our main focus once again. In 2000, CHG-MERIDIAN builds its first technology center near Frankfurt, Germany, where IT equipment is prepared for remarketing at the end of the first phase of its life, once all data has been securely erased.
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Due to the growing demand for our end-of-life services, the technology center moves to larger premises nearby in 2010, and is further expanded a decade later. In 2014, we open a second center in Skien, Norway.
Data security is our priority when refurbishing devices. In 2006, our eraSURE® data erasure solution becomes the first in Germany to be certified by the TÜV product standards regulator. The product achieves ISO certification in 2019.
We also aim for high quality in our processes beyond data security. In 2021, for example, all our sites in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland are audited in accordance with the international ISO 14001 environmental management standard. Our technology center in Norway already holds this certification.
2020s
INTERNATIONAL, DIGITAL, AND SUSTAINABLE
Today, nearly 1,200 employees across 28 countries are responsible for a technology portfolio worth €7.8 billion (2021) in the IT, industrial, and healthcare technology sectors. We help large corporations, SMEs, the public sector, and hospitals to manage and finance technology projects and processes.
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The core of our business model has always been based on the principle of the circular economy. We have been managing our customers’ technology investments for more than 40 years, covering the entire lifecycle from procurement and use to data erasure, refurbishing, and remarketing.
From 2021, CHG-MERIDIAN’s business will be carbon-neutral. To achieve this, we avoid, reduce, or offset all CO₂ emissions generated by our business activities.
2022
Extensive capital investment and spending on innovation
In 2022, our portfolio expands to include the new business devicenow and the start-up circulee, which have added a global device-as-a-service concept and sustainable, professionally refurbished IT hardware for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) respectively. At a geographical level, CHG-MERIDIAN expanded into India and Singapore.
2023
Successful growth path
Our usage models prove their resilience in economically challenging times CHG-MERIDIAN records solid growth in lease originations of €2.45 billion (+9.9% compared with 2022) and expands its coverage in the Asia-Pacific region through its cooperation with the Japanese leasing company SMFL.
CHG-MERIDIAN then and now
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More than 20 employees move into the modern, open-plan offices in Berg near Weingarten, Germany, in 1986.
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The first CHG logo in 1979.
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The CHG team in front of the old headquarters in 1987.
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CHG started using the IBM System 32 in its first office in Berg.
Courtesy of International Business Machines Corporation, © International Business Machines Corporation. -
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The CHG logo at the entrance to the offices in Berg near Weingarten, Germany, in 1986. It has hardly changed since then.
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CHG’s first PC, a Commodore 8296 D, is now on display at the Business Museum in Ravensburg, Germany.
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Construction of the new headquarters in Weingarten, Germany, begins in 2001.
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The headquarters of CHG-MERIDIAN are located in the Upper Swabian town of Weingarten, Germany. More than 350 employees work here.
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The circular economy in action: Every year, CHG-MERIDIAN’s technology center in Gross-Gerau, Germany, prepares over 500,000 used IT devices for a second lifecycle.
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Since 2004, CHG-MERIDIAN has been helping clients in the healthcare sector around the world to finance everything from medical equipment and IT to complete operating theaters.
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Since 2011, CHG-MERIDIAN also offers finance solutions for production facilities and machinery, logistics equipment, and material handling vehicles.
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The modern workplace is digital. CHG-MERIDIAN’s digital workplace solutions help its international customers to manage their digital transformation.
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CHG-MERIDIAN acquired the Australian company equigroup in 2018. This picture shows our Chairman of the Board of Management, Dr. Mathias Wagner, in Sydney, Australia. We now operate a CHG-MERIDIAN office here from which we manage the business in the Australian and New Zealand markets.
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Digital and international: Nearly 1,200 employees in 28 countries contribute to the success of the CHG-MERIDIAN Group worldwide, and thanks to the latest IT equipment and mobile working models, they are increasingly working remotely, like here in Milan, Italy.
