List of the 1,500 Largest Companies Bavaria [2023 Update]

Product Overview

Contains the 1,500 largest companies from Bavaria from numerous sectors such as industry, chemicals, trade, logistics, consumer goods, services, etc. The list is an excerpt from our list of the 5,000 largest companies in Germany.

Excellent level of detail: industry and field of activity, turnover (2015 - 2021) if publicly available, number of employees (2018 - 2021) if publicly available, general contact details, names of management, etc.

Suitable for bulk mailings: list contains columns for German formal salutation, title, first and last name of the management.

High-quality lists thanks to manual data maintenance by an experienced research team in Munich. Boutique research instead of unchecked crawler data.

List of the 5 largest companies in Bavaria

In 2020, Bavaria had the second-highest gross domestic product (GDP) of all German states, at around 610 billion euros, and is at the top of all territorial states in terms of GDP per capita. This is thanks in part to the corporate heavyweights headquartered in the Free State. Here are the TOP 5:

1. BMW AG, Munich

BMW, the Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft, already bears the Free State in its name. The globally active group is controlled from the company headquarters in the famous BMW four-cylinder in Munich. The BMW parent plant is right next door. The BWM story began in 1916 with aircraft engines. Today, the focus is on premium vehicles and motorcycles. The company owns the British car brands Mini and Rolls-Royce. Externally, the group operates as the BMW Group. With more than 120,000 employees, BMW is Germany’s third-largest automaker and among the top 15 worldwide.

2. Allianz SE, Munich

Allianz originally began in 1890 as a “Berlin plant”. It was not until after World War 2 that the company’s headquarters were moved to Munich. The Munich reinsurance company played a decisive role in the founding of the company and for a long time thereafter, but the company has since gone its separate ways. Today, the Allianz Group is one of the world’s largest universal insurers, market leader in Germany and provider of the entire insurance spectrum. Another important business segment is asset management. With its two subsidiaries PIMCO and Allianz Global Investors, Allianz has two investment heavyweights. The Group has over 150,000 employees.

3. Siemens AG, Munich/Berlin

Siemens was founded in 1847 in Berlin as the “Telegraphen Bau-Anstalt von Siemens & Halske”. After World War II, the company’s focus shifted to West Germany, and Munich became the company’s second headquarters alongside Berlin. Today, Siemens forms a conglomerate with the main business areas of industrial automation and digitalization, building infrastructure, decentralized energy systems, medical technology (Siemens Healthineers subgroup) and mobility solutions for rail and road transport (Siemens Mobility subgroup). The tradition-rich Energy Division was spun off in 2020 and has since formed the independent company Siemens Energy AG. The Siemens Group has around 293,000 employees worldwide.

Update 2023: In February 2023, the German industrial group showed what the future of corporate financing could look like. For example, it issued a EUR 60 million debt security via blockchain technology. The three investors (DekaBank, DZ Bank and Union Investment) receive the shares in the debenture as tokens.

4. Münchener Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft AG, Munich

Munich Re (current brand name) is one of the world’s leading reinsurers and, together with the ERGO Group, also operates as a universal insurer. Through MEAG Munich Ergo Assetmanagement, it also engages in joint investment management. Reinsurance business was at the origin of the company, which was founded in 1880, and remains its mainstay. More than two-thirds of gross premiums are generated here. In 2020, the Group had just under 40,000 employees, including 12,600 in reinsurance business, 27,000 at ERGO and 850 at MEAG.

5. AUDI AG, Ingolstadt

The history of the AUDI car brand began in 1909 in Zwickau, Saxony. After various mergers, a new start was made in Ingolstadt after World War 2. Since the 1960s, AUDI has been part of the VW Group and forms its own subgroup. Within the Volkswagen Group, AUDI stands for premium vehicles. Most production takes place at the main plant in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm, as well as at some foreign locations and VW plants. The group employs over 90,000 people. AUDI also owns the Lamborghini sports car brand and the Ducati motorcycle brand.