Data at Their Best
Successful Carve-out with Selective Migration
An SAP carve-out is like a precise surgical procedure: only those data sets that are relevant for the new organization may be extracted from the parent company’s SAP system. This was exactly the challenge when Mutares acquired the Automotive Business Unit of the Fischer Holding. All areas of the company were involved in the carve-out, yet the entire process had to be completed within just a few months. The solution: using the CompanyCarveOut for SAP framework developed by consolut, the carve-out was implemented quickly and efficiently.
The Challenge
In 2024, the private equity firm Mutares acquired the automotive activities of the Fischer Holding with the goal of establishing a standalone company, the Matikon GmbH & Co. KG. The separation was carried out via a carve-out.
Due to its complexity and strategic importance, a carve-out represents a major challenge. The greatest hurdle is precisely identifying the data to be transferred and assigning them correctly. The success of the project depends on the accuracy of this process. It is especially critical to protect intellectual property that provides competitive advantage, as well as sensitive seller data – such as customer and product information that is legally not part of the carve-out. At the same time, no data relevant to the carved-out business may be overlooked.
At the Fischer Holding, additional challenges arose: the separation affected all parts of the company. Moreover, the new entity was expected to operate independently as quickly as possible in order to avoid potential TSA (Transitional Services Agreement) costs. The goal was to complete the entire project from initial data analysis through go-live and the start of Matikon’s operations in less than six months.
The Solution
consolut launched the SAP carve-out in June 2024 with a comprehensive pre-check to gain an overview of the Fischer holding’s systems, processes, and data. Fischer uses an SAP ECC ERP system, from which the data were to be transferred to Matikon.
The conventional carve-out approach involves copying the existing system and then deleting the data that are not part of the carve-out. The drawback of this method is that it is often impossible to ensure that all irrelevant data have been completely removed.
This is where our proprietary CompanyCarveOut for SAP framework comes into play, based on selective data transfer. For this purpose, we use an empty system copy created specifically for the carve-out process. We then enrich this copy through a carve-out-specific data migration, transferring only the relevant data. The advantages: the seller retains full control over the data flow and can verify which data leave the company. At the same time, with CompanyCarveOut for SAP the effort required for the technical SAP ERP carve-out is significantly reduced compared to a typical data migration, such as a greenfield implementation of SAP S/4HANA.
Matikon and Mutares
© Matikon GmbH & Co. KG
Matikon is a company that develops, manufactures, and sells kinematic components for vehicle interior and exterior applications. Its portfolio includes air vents, storage compartments, cup holders, and charging flaps for electric vehicles. The company offers a wide range of advanced manufacturing technologies that ensure high quality, efficiency, and innovative finishing, including processes such as MuCell, sandwich injection molding, hot stamping, in-mold labeling, and in-mold assembly. The company is headquartered in Herrenberg and operates production facilities in the Czech Republic, Serbia, China and the US.
Mutares is an internationally active private equity investor with a focus on Special Situations.
Quality Assurance Through Thorough Testing
To ensure that all processes function smoothly after the IT carve-out, the consolut team implemented quality assurance systems and tested the interfaces internally and on the customer side – until the last of seven test runs was error-free. In doing so, the team analyzed more than 100,000 relevant tables. In addition, both import and export performance were optimized to minimize data transfer time.
The business transfer took place in January 2025. For this purpose, Fischer planned a two-day downtime over a weekend. After 24 hours of import time, all systems went live and the new Matikon commenced operations.
Thanks to the collaboration of numerous experts from Development ABAP, Logistics, Financials, Planning & Manufacturing, Basis and AMS as well as project management, all activities were seamlessly coordinated, and processes ran smoothly from day one. Subsequently, our team continued to support the companies during the Hypercare phase.
The Result
Go-live took place on the first weekend of January 2025. The customer was extremely satisfied with both the quality of the solution and the short project duration of just a few months – an impressive achievement given the complexity and scope of the project.
Thanks to our consolut CompanyCarveOut for SAP framework and the thorough preparation and testing phase, the automotive data separation was carried out cleanly and reliably. All systems, from production and planning through invoicing, functioned flawlessly. It was particularly important to ensure that the data transferred from the seller’s system were both correct and consistent.
As the Fischer holding uses SAP, the data are temporarily hosted on Microsoft Azure. The next step for Matikon will be a migration to SAP S/4HANA.
Benefits:
High-quality, precise carve-out results
Consistent financial data and full transparency for auditors
Integrity of business processes through the complete transfer of all relevant master and transactional data
Protection of sensitive, business-critical data such as pricing and conditions
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