Warburg Pincus acquires majority stake in the uvex group

Munich — The uvex group (uvex), a leading global family-owned company in the field of protec­tion and safety products for work, sport and leisure, announ­ces that Warburg Pincus, a pioneer among growth-orien­­ted private equity firms, will acquire a majo­rity stake in the company. The share­hol­der fami­lies Winter and Grau will retain a signi­fi­cant mino­rity stake and will conti­nue to actively shape the company’s growth trajec­tory. — Kirk­land & Ellis advi­sed Warburg Pincus on the acqui­si­tion of a majo­rity stake in Uvex Winter Holding GmbH & Co KG (“uvex”)

Since its foun­da­tion in 1926 by Phil­ipp M. Winter, who began manu­fac­tu­ring safety eyewear in his “Opti­­sche-Indus­­trie-Anstalt”, uvex has deve­lo­ped into one of the worl­d’s leading specia­lists in the field of occu­pa­tio­nal safety and sport. The guiding prin­ci­ple “protec­ting people” is both a mission and a respon­si­bi­lity. uvex deve­lops, produ­ces and distri­bu­tes high-quality and inno­va­tive products and services to protect people at work, during sport and in their leisure time. 

The uvex group posi­ti­ons itself as an inno­va­tion leader in the premium segment and its products meet the highest quality stan­dards, offe­ring the best wearing comfort through unique tech­no­lo­gies and inspi­ring design. With Warburg Pincus as a new part­ner, the uvex group will conti­nue to drive inter­na­tio­nal growth, selec­tively expand its premium range and deve­lop new busi­ness areas. The group will also conti­nue to acce­le­rate growth through stra­te­gic acqui­si­ti­ons and thus build on its previous successes
.

Michael Winter, Mana­ging Part­ner and CEO of the uvex group, comm­ents: “100 years of the brand promise ‘protec­ting people’ is a commit­ment. As a respon­si­ble family busi­ness in its fourth gene­ra­tion, we want to shape the next phase of the company’s deve­lo­p­ment with a strong growth part­ner in order to further increase the resi­li­ence of our group in the future and remain the first choice for our custo­mers. We are convin­ced that we have found such a growth part­ner in Warburg Pincus
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Tobias Weid­ner (photo © Warburg Pincus), Mana­ging Direc­tor at Warburg Pincus, says: “We congra­tu­late the Winter and Grau fami­lies, who have built uvex into a successful company with an excel­lent brand over the past 100 years. We look forward to working with them and conti­nuing on this path toge­ther. Our goal is to deve­lop uvex into the global market leader for protec­tive equip­ment and to make uvex premium products acces­si­ble to more people worldwide.” 

The tran­sac­tion is subject to the usual regu­la­tory approvals.

Since its foun­da­tion in 1926, uvex has deve­lo­ped into one of the worl­d’s leading specia­lists in the field of occu­pa­tio­nal safety and sport. The company deve­lops, produ­ces and distri­bu­tes high-quality and inno­va­tive products and services to protect people at work, during sport and leisure acti­vi­ties. uvex is repre­sen­ted by 49 bran­ches in 23 count­ries, has over 3,000 employees and produ­ces in its own factories. 

Advi­sor Warburg Pincus: Kirk­land & Ellis, Munich

Dr. Benja­min Leyen­de­cker, Dr. Philip Goj, Dr. Chris­toph Jerger (all lead, all Private Equity/M&A), Dr. Alex­an­der Längs­feld (Debt Finance), Dr. Michael Ehret (Tax); Asso­cia­tes: Dr. Johan­nes Rowold, Dr. Sophia Probst, Fried­rich Focke, Dr. Maxi­mi­lian Licht, Dr. Sabrina Seitz, Carl Grupe, Dr. Pablo Tretow (all Private Equity/M&A), Dr. Barbara Dunkel (Debt Finance)

Kirk­land & Ellis, London: Ian Barratt, Thomas Raftery (both Debt Finance), Rhys Davies (Sustaina­bi­lity); Asso­cia­tes: Lara Stein­bach (Anti­trust & Compe­ti­tion), Brent Tan, Phil Rigley (both Debt Finance)

About Kirk­land

With around 4,000 lawy­ers in 22 cities in the USA, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, Kirk­land & Ellis is one of the leading law firms for high-cali­­ber legal services. The German team specia­li­zes in private equity, M&A, restruc­tu­ring, corpo­rate and capi­tal markets law, finan­cing and tax law. For more infor­ma­tion, please visit www.kirkland.com.