Bremen/ Frank­furt a. F. — CIC Capi­tal, the inter­na­tio­nal direct invest­ment company of Crédit Mutuel Alli­ance Fédé­rale, and PESCA Equity Part­ners (PESCA), a company for mino­rity and majo­rity invest­ments in medium-sized compa­nies, have acqui­red a signi­fi­cant mino­rity stake in the Brüning Group as part of an owner buy-out.

The company, which is based in Fischer­hude near Bremen, has around 200 employees and sales in the high double-digit million range and is the German market leader in the trade of energy-supp­­ly­ing bulk raw mate­ri­als (e.g. pellets, resi­dual wood and substi­tute fuels). Foun­der and CEO Arnd Brüning (48) remains majo­rity share­hol­der and will conti­nue to lead the Brüning Group. As part of the tran­sac­tion, the exten­ded manage­ment team also acqui­red a stake in the company. With the growth finan­cing and the stra­te­gic exper­tise of the new co-share­hol­­ders, the company intends to conso­li­date its successful posi­tion in a promi­sing market and further streng­then it in the long term by expan­ding into new geogra­phi­cal markets.

Origi­nally foun­ded in 1992 as a nursery, the Brüning Group has since grown into a service company opera­ting throug­hout Europe, trading in woody raw mate­ri­als used in power gene­ra­tion, horti­cul­ture, land­sca­ping and agri­cul­ture. The Brüning Group offers its custo­mers and suppli­ers relia­ble supply, dispo­sal and logi­stics from a single source. Thanks to its long-term expe­ri­ence and its even stron­ger cross-regio­nal focus in the future, it can respond quickly and effi­ci­ently to market changes.

The previous sole share­hol­der Arnd Brüning has set hims­elf the goal of secu­ring the long-term inde­pen­dence of the company he foun­ded and taking its successful deve­lo­p­ment to the next level. As expe­ri­en­ced share­hol­ders of fast-growing medium-sized compa­nies, CIC Capi­tal and PESCA bring exten­sive exper­tise in support­ing such expan­sion proces­ses as well as the corre­spon­ding inter­na­tio­nal connections.

Arnd Brüning, foun­der and CEO of the Brüning Group: “With CIC Capi­tal and PESCA Equity Part­ners we have found strong part­ners for the future of our company, who will accom­pany and actively support us on our growth path. Alre­ady in the first talks it became clear that our views on the stra­te­gic direc­tion of the company are in line and that the chemis­try between the people invol­ved is right.”

Sébas­tien Neiss (photo), Germany Mana­ging Direc­tor of CIC Capi­tal in Frank­furt: “With the Brüning Group, PESCA has given us the oppor­tu­nity to invest in an estab­lished and fast-growing company in a promi­sing market. The posi­tion and long-term growth poten­tial of the company as well as the manage­ment perfor­mance and future vision of Arnd Brüning and his manage­ment team convin­ced us. These are exactly the factors we as Ever­green inves­tors rely on in our mino­rity investments.”

Peter Beusch, Part­ner at PESCA Equity Part­ners, added: “The Brüning Group has a sophisti­ca­ted busi­ness model that struc­tures and bund­les the entire mate­rial flows in a complex multi­la­te­ral market. The combi­na­tion of a supra-regio­nal supplier network, broad custo­mer port­fo­lio, diverse product offe­ring, expe­ri­en­ced sales orga­niza­tion as well as strong inno­va­tive power convin­ced us and makes us very confi­dent for the company’s further growth in Germany and abroad.”

Advi­sors CIC Capi­tal and PESCA:
P+P Pöllath + Part­ners (legal and struc­tu­ring), RSM (finance & tax) and PWC (commer­cial due diligence).

The tran­sac­tion advice for the Brüning Group was provi­ded by Kloep­fel Corpo­rate Finance GmbH, the legal advice by Blanke Meier Evers Rechts­an­wälte in Part­ner­schaft mbB and the tax advice by RKH GmbH & Co KG Wirt­schafts­prü­fungs­ge­sell­schaft.

About the Brüning Group
Foun­ded in 1992 in Fischer­hude near Bremen, the sole proprie­tor­ship Arnd Brüning e.K. today pres­ents itself as the Brüning Group with the compa­nies Brüning-Euro­­mulch GmbH, Brüning-Mega­­watt GmbH, Brüning-Logis­­tik GmbH and Brüning-Inter­na­­tio­nal GmbH. As a natio­nal and inter­na­tio­nal deve­lo­per and supplier, the Brüning Group prima­rily trades in energy-supp­­ly­ing bulk raw mate­ri­als made of wood and has estab­lished itself as the market leader in the supply of biomass coge­nera­tion plants throug­hout Germany with around 200 employees and sales in the high double-digit million range. It struc­tures the market signi­fi­cantly through its unique posi­tion and acts as a link between produ­cers and custo­mers. In addi­tion, mulch, bark and pellet products are among the wide range of products curr­ently hand­led at six sites. In 2018, the Brüning Group also acqui­red Gebrü­der Meyer GmbH in Mölln. www.bruening-gruppe.de

About PESCA Equity Partners
PESCA Equity Part­ners is a private, owner-mana­­ged firm serving a network of successful inves­tors and entre­pre­neurs. In addi­tion to its own capi­tal, PESCA invests private and insti­tu­tio­nal funds as equity in mino­rity and majo­rity holdings in medium-sized compa­nies in German-spea­king count­ries. www.pesca-partners.com.

About CIC CAPITAL
CIC Capi­tal stands for the inter­na­tio­nal direct invest­ment busi­ness of CM-CIC Inves­tis­se­ment, a finan­cial invest­ment subsi­diary of the French banking group Crédit Mutuel Alli­ance Fédé­rale. CM-CIC Inves­tis­se­ment offers solu­ti­ons to medium-sized compa­nies in all areas of equity financing. 

At CM-CIC Inves­tis­se­ment, the focus is on the rela­ti­onship and close coope­ra­tion between the expe­ri­en­ced invest­ment team and the execu­ti­ves in the port­fo­lio compa­nies. With the long-term perspec­tive of a fund-inde­­pen­­dent “ever­green” approach, CM-CIC Inves­tis­se­ment has alre­ady been successful for 35 years. 

CM-CIC Inves­tis­se­ment has alre­ady inves­ted more than €3.0 billion in equity capi­tal, and its port­fo­lio curr­ently consists of around 360 compa­nies. Under the CIC Capi­tal brand, CM-CIC Inves­tis­se­ment has expan­ded its acti­vi­ties to Canada (Mont­real and Toronto), USA (New York and Boston), Germany (Frank­furt), Switz­er­land (Geneva and Zurich) and the United King­dom (London).
For more infor­ma­tion, visit www.ciccapital.fund.