MBI: S‑UBG supports succession at Albrecht-Automatik

Aachen — The regio­nal invest­ment company S‑UBG AG from Aachen, toge­ther with ACT Holding (Advan­ced Clean Tech­no­lo­gies), has acqui­red 100 percent of the shares in Albrecht-Auto­­ma­­tik GmbH from Pulheim as part of a manage­ment buy-in (MBI). The mecha­ni­cal engi­nee­ring company specia­li­zes in the manu­fac­ture of quick-closing valves and compact systems for deman­ding indus­trial appli­ca­ti­ons. “With this invest­ment, we are acqui­ring a stake in an inno­va­tive company with great future pros­pects driven by the energy tran­si­tion,” explains Dr. Ansgar Schlei­cher, CEO of S‑UBG AG. 

“We not only actively shape the succes­sion process, but also contri­bute to the value-orien­­ted further deve­lo­p­ment of the medium-sized company for the next gene­ra­tion.” — Dr. Ansgar Schlei­cher, CEO of S‑UBG AG.

Dr. Hans-Chris­­tian Früh and Chris­tian Mertens, both mana­ging direc­tors at ACT Holding, are taking over from the previous mana­ging part­ner Marion Koch, who has successfully mana­ged her family busi­ness in the second gene­ra­tion for over 20 years. With the sale of the company, Koch is arran­ging the succes­sion at share­hol­der and manage­ment level and ensu­ring conti­nuity and jobs at her company. 

The new mana­ging direc­tors have many years of expe­ri­ence in manage­ment posi­ti­ons at various corpo­ra­ti­ons and medium-sized compa­nies and plan to work with S‑UBG to streng­then the sales orga­niza­tion, expand the custo­mer base globally and opti­mize exis­ting proces­ses. “We see an excel­lent tech­no­lo­gi­cal basis for the sustainable deve­lo­p­ment of the company,” says Mertens. “We were parti­cu­larly impres­sed by the combi­na­tion of tech­ni­cal exper­tise, a high level of custo­miza­tion compe­tence, compre­hen­sive certi­fi­ca­ti­ons and future-proof technologies.” 

How Albrecht-Auto­­ma­­tik is helping to shape the energy transition

Albrecht-Auto­­ma­­tik deve­lops quick-closing safety valves, control valves and custo­mi­zed special valves for deman­ding and safety-criti­­cal indus­trial appli­ca­ti­ons. It supplies these to medium-sized plant manu­fac­tu­r­ers and major indus­trial custo­mers world­wide, parti­cu­larly in the energy, chemi­cal, process and ship­buil­ding industries. 

A key unique selling point is the company’s many years of expe­ri­ence in the hydro­gen segment, in which it has been active since 1995. “Hydro­gen and power-to‑X appli­ca­ti­ons are beco­ming massi­vely more important,” empha­si­zes Dr. Früh. “With its in-depth exper­tise in the areas of hydro­gen, ammo­nia and metha­nol, Albrecht-Auto­­ma­­tik stands out from the compe­ti­tion and has the poten­tial to support the struc­tu­ral change towards green energies.” 

Posi­tive market fore­casts provide tailwind

The market condi­ti­ons for indus­trial valves and valve tech­no­logy are promi­sing: analysts from Grand View Rese­arch fore­cast that the global market for control valves will almost double from USD 6.6 billion (2023) to over USD 12 billion by 20301 . The main drivers are the moder­niza­tion of indus­trial plants — inclu­ding power plants, chemi­cals and water/water treat­ment — and the trend towards digi­tal diagnostics. 

Schlei­cher: “The further deve­lo­p­ment of Albrecht-Auto­­ma­­tik is in the hands of expe­ri­en­ced stra­te­gists who toge­ther bring over 30 years of manage­ment exper­tise and will lead the company into a new phase of growth.”

About the S‑UBG Group
The S‑UBG Group, Aachen, has been the leading part­ner in the provi­sion of equity capi­tal for estab­lished medium-sized compa­nies (S‑UBG AG) and young, tech­­no­­logy-orien­­ted start-ups (Tech­Vi­sion Fonds) in the econo­mic regi­ons of Aachen, Krefeld and Mönchen­glad­bach for almost 40 years.
S‑UBG AG invests in growth sectors; a high quality of corpo­rate manage­ment is a key invest­ment criter­ion for the invest­ment company. It deve­lops invest­ment models for medium-sized compa­nies, both in open and silent part­ner­ship form, has many years of expe­ri­ence in the deve­lo­p­ment of expan­sion finan­cing models, share­hol­der chan­ges and succes­sion plan­ning (MBO/MBI) and only enters into mino­rity share­hol­dings. The S‑UBG Group curr­ently holds stakes in just under 40 compa­nies in the region, giving it a leading posi­tion in the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe.
— www.s‑ubg.de.