Pro Aurum

Pro Aurum (stylised in lowercase as pro aurum) is a German precious metals trading house founded in September 2003 by Robert Hartmann, Kai Purper and Mirko Schmidt, with its headquarters in Munich. It describes itself as the largest bank-independent precious metals dealer in Germany and is one of the largest gold trading houses in the German-speaking region. The company buys and sells physical gold, silver, platinum and palladium in the form of bars and coins, and also offers storage solutions including safe deposit boxes, precious metal accounts and a customs-free warehouse in Switzerland. The name Pro Aurum is derived from the Latin pro auro, meaning "for gold"; the founders deliberately chose the grammatically incorrect combination of pro with the accusative rather than the ablative because of the greater familiarity of the nominative form. Pro Aurum began with start-up capital of EUR 1 million and five employees, opening its first trading house on 7 November 2003 in a former bank building at Grillparzerstrasse 46 in Munich. It launched an online shop on 1 April 2005, originally together with Umicore S.A. in Hanau. The group now operates trading houses in Munich (Riem and Schwabing), Berlin, Bad Homburg, Bielefeld, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Saarbrücken, Stuttgart, Ulm and Zurich in Switzerland. Pro Aurum serves private and institutional investors, including more than 100,000 private customers, 1,200 wealth advisers and managers, over 150 banks and 50 precious metals dealers. It has been recognised several times by the business magazine FOCUS Money as "Best Precious Metals Dealer in Germany". The company has also developed investment products such as the Pro Aurum ValueFlex fund, issued in February 2010, and the Pro Aurum GoldSparplan, and has entered partnerships with Consorsbank (BNP Paribas) in 2015, Kreissparkasse Göppingen in 2017 and the Vienna-based crypto fintech Bitpanda in 2019. Revenue grew strongly during and after the financial crisis, reaching EUR 680 million for the 2010 financial year and EUR 1 billion for 2011 according to company figures. After a difficult 2014, business recovered in 2015 with revenue growth of more than 60% in January of that year. Pro Aurum remains a privately held group with several Munich-based subsidiaries, including Pro Aurum Grundstücksverwaltungs GmbH, Pro Aurum Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, Pro Aurum Tresorgold GmbH and Pro Aurum Value GmbH.

Pro Aurum was founded in September 2003 by Robert Hartmann, Kai Purper and Mirko Schmidt. The founders Hartmann and Schmidt, both specialised in precious metals trading, met in 1997 while working at Deutsche Verkehrsbank. After Deutsche Verkehrsbank discontinued its precious metals trading in 2002, Hartmann and Schmidt went into business for themselves in 2003 with Pro Aurum. On 7 November 2003, the company opened its first trading house at its main location in Munich, in an old bank building at Grillparzerstrasse 46. The company started with capital of EUR 1 million and five employees. In 2004, Pro Aurum presented the Big Phil for the Austrian Mint at a gala event at the Prinzregententheater. The Big Phil was the world's largest gold coin at the time, weighing 1000 fine ounces (31.1 kilograms). The coin is now displayed opposite the entrance area in the company headquarters. On 1 April 2005, the company launched an online shop, originally together with Umicore S.A. in Hanau. In 2005, the company achieved annual revenue of EUR 60 million. In 2008, Pro Aurum was nominated for the final of the "Entrepreneur of the Year" competition organised by the auditing and consulting firm Ernst & Young in the "StartUp" category. In September 2008, the foundation stone was laid for the new Munich main trading house on the former runway of the former Riem Airport, which was occupied in 2009. The gold-coloured building's shape is based on a gold bar. Brass from recycled Deutsche Mark coins was used for the building facade. The volume of the building, with a length of 42 metres, a width of 24 metres and a height of 8 metres, corresponds to the amount of gold mined worldwide to date. The building, designed by Karlsruhe architect Rainer Freitag, was awarded the Red Dot Design Award - Communication Design 2010. The construction costs amounted to around ten million euros. By mid-2010, the company had more than 80 employees. In February 2010, the company issued its own fund, the Pro Aurum ValueFlex. Since 2011, the company has been considered the largest gold provider in Germany. At the beginning of 2012, the company had around 100 employees, half of whom worked at the Munich headquarters. In January 2012, the two managing directors Robert Hartmann and Mirko Schmidt were awarded "Entrepreneur of the Year 2011" in Bavaria. With the financial and economic crisis from 2007 and the flight of many investors into precious metals, revenue increased considerably. In the months of April, May and June 2011, the group sold around 2.3 tonnes of gold in the form of coins and bars according to its own figures. For the months July to September of the same year, an increase in sales in this area to 3.4 tonnes per month was reported. From January to November 2011, the company sold 17.2 tonnes of gold to banks and private individuals. This corresponded to a weekly gold trading volume of EUR 20 to 25 million. At the end of 2011, the company put peak daily sales in silver trading at five tonnes; the usual daily sales for silver in the same year was half that according to its own figures. At the end of 2011, the company summarised revenue of EUR 680 million for the 2010 financial year and, for the first time, revenue of EUR 1 billion for 2011. On 14 December 2015, Consorsbank, part of BNP Paribas, and Pro Aurum jointly launched a new investment form for physical gold trading. Through an award with a securities number and international securities identification number, gold bars and coins can be traded on an exchange. Since 2017, Kreissparkasse Göppingen has offered a gold account in cooperation with Pro Aurum, enabling simple buying and selling of gold based on the principle of a classic savings account. In mid-2019, the Vienna-based crypto fintech company Bitpanda announced that it would cooperate with Pro Aurum. Precious metals can be bought via Bitpanda and are stored at Pro Aurum in Switzerland. After the international gold trade experienced a slump in April 2013, 2014 was a difficult financial year for Pro Aurum. In January 2015, however, the company was able to achieve revenue growth of more than 60% again. The average order value was between EUR 10,000 and EUR 15,000.

• Pro Aurum founded by Robert Hartmann, Kai Purper and Mirko Schmidt.

• First trading house opened in Munich at Grillparzerstrasse 46.

• Presented the Big Phil, the world's largest gold coin at the time, for the Austrian Mint.

• Launched online shop, originally with Umicore S.A. in Hanau.

• Foundation stone laid for new Munich main trading house at former Riem Airport.

• Moved into new Munich main trading house.

• Issued own fund, Pro Aurum ValueFlex.

• Munich building awarded Red Dot Design Award - Communication Design 2010.

• Considered the largest gold provider in Germany.

• Managing directors Robert Hartmann and Mirko Schmidt awarded 'Entrepreneur of the Year 2011' in Bavaria.

• Consorsbank and Pro Aurum launched new investment form for physical gold trading.

• Kreissparkasse Göppingen and Pro Aurum offered gold account.

• Bitpanda announced cooperation with Pro Aurum.

Largest bank-independent precious metals dealer in Germany; trusted partner for private and institutional investors.

• Gold bars

  Physical gold bars in various sizes from manufacturers such as Heraeus and Umicore.

• Gold coins

  Gold coins including the Big Phil and Lunar series.

• Silver bars

  Physical silver bars in various sizes.

• Silver coins

  Silver coins for investment and collection.

• Platinum bars

  Physical platinum bars.

• Palladium bars

  Physical palladium bars.

• Pro Aurum ValueFlex

  Investment fund issued in February 2010, investing in international large-cap companies in raw materials sectors and up to 30% in physical precious metals.

• Pro Aurum GoldSparplan

  Gold savings plan offered by Pro Aurum.

1. 1Gold & Silber kaufen und verkaufen | proaurumproaurum.de
2. 2Heraeus - Hersteller - Shop | proaurumproaurum.de
3. 3Umicore - Hersteller - Shop | proaurumproaurum.de
4. 4Über uns | proaurumproaurum.de
5. 5Pro Aurumwikidata.org
6. 6Pro Aurumde.wikipedia.org