Gimv becomes growth partner of world market leader SMG Sportplatzmaschinenbau

Vöhrin­gen, Bava­ria — Foun­ded in 1975, SMG Sport­platz­ma­schi­nen­bau GmbH (www.smg-machines.com) has long since estab­lished itself as a global leader in the deve­lo­p­ment and manu­fac­ture of state-of-the-art machi­nes for the sports indus­try and is now used by teams such as Real Madrid, FC Bayern Munich and the Miami Dolphins. Toge­ther with Tobias and Daniel Owege­ser, who will remain share­hol­ders, Gimv will drive SMG’s further growth and inter­na­tio­nal expansion.

SMG’s impres­sive port­fo­lio includes specia­li­zed machi­nes that are used in a variety of sports and leisure areas — from arti­fi­cial or hybrid turf to athle­tics faci­li­ties and tennis courts. SMG has been a pioneer in the field of synthe­tic sports surfaces and arti­fi­cial turf for almost 50 years and offers machi­nes that mix various compon­ents, lay base layers and line their surfaces. Their inno­va­tive arti­fi­cial turf machi­nes are known for the filling, care and main­ten­ance of sports pitches and offer both self-propel­­led models and models with ride-on technology.

The machi­nes are deve­lo­ped and produ­ced in Germany. To this end, SMG works closely with leading mate­rial manu­fac­tu­r­ers and instal­la­tion compa­nies to ensure the highest quality at all times. The company, which serves over 1,200 custo­mers world­wide, is supported by 55 dedi­ca­ted employees in Vöhrin­gen and an exten­sive network of inde­pen­dent sales part­ners world­wide. The USA is curr­ently SMG’s largest market, with renow­ned custo­mers such as colleges, univer­si­ties, high schools and Ameri­can foot­ball clubs.

The part­ner­ship with Gimv marks the start of the next phase of SMG’s remar­kable jour­ney. The exper­tise of Gimv as the new majo­rity share­hol­der will help to streng­then further inter­na­tio­nal growth in the coming years and take the products to the next level.

Daniel and Tobias Owege­ser, co-owners of SMG, explain: “We have alre­ady grown stron­gly in recent deca­des and have laid the foun­da­ti­ons for the successful expan­sion of our busi­ness, parti­cu­larly in the USA. Toge­ther with our father Johann and our brot­her Markus, we have deci­ded to bring a strong part­ner on board in order to successfully conti­nue our growth story. With Gimv at our side, we now want to take the next steps toge­ther towards further inter­na­tio­na­liza­tion and make targe­ted use of the many oppor­tu­ni­ties abroad.”

Ronald Bartel, Part­ner Smart Indus­tries (photo © GIMV), explains: “With SMG, we are deligh­ted to welcome an excep­tio­nal and impres­sive new addi­tion to our Smart Indus­tries plat­form. We are deeply convin­ced by the product, the owners and the manage­ment team and look forward to support­ing SMG on its growth path.”

About GIMV

Gimv is a Euro­pean invest­ment company listed on Euron­ext Brussels. As one of the market leaders, we are a part­ner to entre­pre­neu­rial and inno­va­tive compa­nies in 5 future-orien­­ted invest­ment areas. We curr­ently manage a port­fo­lio of around 60 compa­nies with a total turno­ver of EUR 4.0 billion and more than 20,000 employees.

Gimv has been inves­t­ing in inno­va­tion and entre­pre­neur­ship for over 40 years. Our flexi­ble approach is based on a solid balance sheet, pati­ent capi­tal and a long-term perspec­tive. Gimv is commit­ted to crea­ting sustainable value by successfully combi­ning the strengths of entre­pre­neu­rial, ambi­tious and talen­ted manage­ment teams with our dedi­ca­ted, compe­tent and well-connec­­ted invest­ment teams. www.gimv.com