SüdBG sells its shares in KKL Holding to bluu unit

Stuttgart/Düsseldorf — The Stut­t­­gart-based invest­ment company Süd Betei­li­gun­gen GmbH (SüdBG) is selling its shares in KKL Holding GmbH, Düssel­dorf (KKL). The shares of foun­der Andreas Kohmann and the manage­ment invol­ved (Ingo Hoff­mann and Patrick Peters) are also chan­ging hands. bluu unit GmbH, based in Ludwigs­burg, will become the new owner of the well-posi­­tio­­ned KKL team. 

Foun­ded in 1987 by Andreas Kohmann, KKL is now one of the leading service provi­ders in the field of air condi­tio­ning and refri­ge­ra­tion tech­no­logy in Germany. SüdBG joined the company in 2018 as part of a manage­ment buy-out with the two mana­ging direc­tors Ingo Hoff­mann and Patrick Peters and, toge­ther with the foun­der and advi­sory board, supported the manage­ment in the deter­mi­ned imple­men­ta­tion of the growth stra­tegy. This included expan­ding the company’s excel­lent market posi­tion as a provi­der of sophisti­ca­ted air condi­tio­ning solu­ti­ons through
, FM Service as a specia­list in the cons­truc­tion and moder­niza­tion of data centers, the estab­lish­ment of XIUS Tech­no­lo­gie, which specia­li­zes in prefa­bri­ca­ted products in refri­ge­ra­tion and air condi­tio­ning tech­no­logy, the acqui­si­tion of Douba­ras Kälte-Klima-Tech­­nik GmbH, a specia­list for ultra-low tempe­ra­ture appli­ca­ti­ons in the health­care sector, and the estab­lish­ment and deve­lo­p­ment of the Stutt­gart location. 

With over 60 trai­nees, KKL is one of the largest and best trai­ning compa­nies in refri­ge­ra­tion and air condi­tio­ning mecha­tro­nics in Germany. During the part­ner­ship with SüdBG, KKL has grown consider­a­bly, now employ­ing around 300 people and gene­ra­ting a turno­ver of over 80 million euros.

“We are deligh­ted that we have been able to expand KKL’s market posi­tion in close and trus­ting coope­ra­tion with the employees, manage­ment, foun­ding share­hol­der and advi­sory board. In addi­tion to streng­thening the orga­niza­tio­nal struc­ture, rapidly imple­men­ting digi­tal proces­ses and effi­ci­ent project control­ling, we have set the course for growth and demons­tra­ted our high level of system exper­tise in the plan­ning, instal­la­tion and servicing of sophisti­ca­ted air condi­tio­ning solu­ti­ons,” explain Gunter Max (Mana­ging Direc­tor) and Daniel Heinz­mann (Invest­ment Direc­tor) of SüdBG.

Andreas Kohmann, foun­ding part­ner and advi­sory board member, adds: “Brin­ging SüdBG on board at
in 2018 was the right move. Toge­ther, we have writ­ten an impres­sive growth story. We are now handing the company over to carefully selec­ted new hands and are convin­ced that KKL will conti­nue its extra­or­di­na­rily successful deve­lo­p­ment with bluu unit at its side.” 

Ingo Hoff­mann and Patrick Peters, the two mana­ging direc­tors of KKL, who will retain their roles, are opti­mi­stic about the future: “We are very proud of what we have achie­ved toge­ther and would like to thank the previous share­hol­ders for their successful and consis­t­ently coope­ra­tive part­ner­ship. We are now looking forward to the next deve­lo­p­ment steps with the support of our new inves­tor under the umbrella of bluu unit GmbH.”

Süd Betei­li­gun­gen GmbH (SüdBG) is a wholly owned subsi­diary of Landes­bank Baden-Würt­­te­m­­berg (LBBW) and has been support­ing medium-sized compa­nies for more than 50 years with custo­mi­zed equity and equity-rela­­ted solu­ti­ons in the context of succes­sion plan­ning, growth finan­cing and share­hol­der changes.

As one of the leading invest­ment compa­nies in the German-spea­king region and a long-term inves­tor, SüdBG has supported more than 70 compa­nies with around 600 million euros and a broad network in sustainable corpo­rate deve­lo­p­ment over the past 10 years.
— www.suedbg.de.

The tran­sac­tion is still subject to anti­trust appr­ovals. The part­ners have agreed not to disc­lose any details. 

SüdBG deal team: Gunter Max, Daniel Heinz­mann, Bettina Schäfer
Advi­sors invol­ved in the tran­sac­tion by SüdBG:

M&A: Lincoln Inter­na­tio­nal AG (Juan Carlos Montoya, Fabian Walisch, Daniel Lerch, Max von Ostrow­ski, Nicole Chubarov)

Legal: McDer­mott Will & Schulte (Dr. Chris­tian Marz­lin, Dr. Bene­dikt von Schor­le­mer, Jenni­fer Rogal­ski, Jan Ischreyt)

Commer­cial: Stra­te­gia Part­ners (Marco Mäder, Philip Geiser, André Mardi)

Finan­cial & Tax: 8P/BDO (Matthias Künzel, Patrick Bilstein, Gunnar Steffens)