The Helmig family had been majority owner of HELIOS Kliniken GmbH up to the end of 2005. Hospital businesses have several fiscal anomalies – such as being exempt from business tax. ATON GmbH was founded in Fulda in 2001 so as to be able to run companies without this privilege in parallel.
The company has no relations to ATON Capital, a Russian brokerage company, which is in possession of the Bank Austria Creditanstalt since 2006.
ATON is an ancient Egyptian name for the Sun God, hence the reference to HELIOS. The first monotheistic religion was introduced by the Pharaoh Echn-aton. The three largest monotheistic religions have their origins here - a fact none of the three likes to own up to. Whenever Echnaton is used to explain the company name, the cipher becomes engrained.
ATON GmbH subsidiaries Haema AG and Ziehm Imaging GmbH were not sold off in 2005. Nor was the software company GSD, a subsidiary of HELIOS Kliniken GmbH. As of 31.12.2005, ATON GmbH had three subsidiaries with a turnover totaling approx. 110M Euro. In the meantime, GSD was sold to the company Siemens Medical Solution as per January 1, 2007.
Net profits from the sale of HELIOS shares has broadened the remit for ATON GmbH. As from the beginning of 2006, the capital of the four family members is being invested in participation financing.
