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Succession: Deutsche Beteiligungs AG invests in ProMik

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Frank­furt a. M./Nuremberg — Deut­sche Betei­li­gungs AG (DBAG) invests in ProMik Program­mier­sys­teme für die Mikro­elek­tro­nik GmbH (ProMik), a leading global systems provi­der of programming and test systems for elec­tro­nics series produc­tion. A fund advi­sed by DBAG will acquire the majo­rity of the shares from the foun­ding family, who will remain as mino­rity share­hol­ders by means of a reverse share­hol­ding. Alex­an­der Rosen­ber­ger and Jens Rosen­ber­ger are members of the foun­ding family and will remain with the company as CTO and CMO, respectively.

A Cham­pion from Nurem­berg — ProMik Serves a Global Market

ProMik was foun­ded in Nurem­berg in 1995 and has since deve­lo­ped into a family busi­ness with global rele­vance based on more than 5,000 successful projects. More than 60 employees deve­lop sophisti­ca­ted soft­ware-driven solu­ti­ons for a market with double-digit annual growth rates. The scope of appli­ca­tion is very broad and covers the mobi­lity sector, such as in the field of auto­no­mous driving as well as the energy manage­ment of battery elec­tric vehicles.

In addi­tion, ProMik is active in consu­mer goods, e‑bikes and white goods. Indus­trial appli­ca­ti­ons and solu­ti­ons for the produc­tion faci­li­ties of elec­tro­nic assem­bly manu­fac­tu­r­ers, which serve to opti­mize test and programming proces­ses, round off the company’s profile.

“ProMik is opera­ting in a thri­ving market, and we are plea­sed to have access to such exci­ting invest­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties through our network. The company offers an excel­lent product port­fo­lio and the poten­ti­als are accor­din­gly oppor­tu­ni­ties for stra­te­gic acqui­si­ti­ons, this is where our exten­sive M&A expe­ri­ence comes into play”, says Jannick Hune­cke, member of DBAG’s Manage­ment Board.

Winfried Rosen­ber­ger, foun­der of ProMik says: “We are looking forward to the coope­ra­tion with DBAG and the oppor­tu­nity to work toge­ther on the further deve­lo­p­ment of our service port­fo­lio. We have built up the company over the past almost three deca­des, and along­side DBAG we are opti­mi­stic about the future because we have found the ideal inves­tor for the succes­sion plan­ning of our company.”

About DBAG

Deut­sche Betei­li­gungs AG (DBAG), listed on the stock exch­ange since 1985, is one of Germany’s most renow­ned private equity compa­nies. As an inves­tor and fund advi­sor, DBAG’s invest­ment focus has tradi­tio­nally been on medium-sized compa­nies with a focus on well-posi­tio­ned compa­nies with deve­lo­p­ment poten­tial, prima­rily in the DACH region. The indus­try focus is on manu­fac­tu­ring compa­nies, indus­trial service provi­ders and Indus­try­Tech compa­nies — i.e. compa­nies whose products enable auto­ma­tion, robo­tics and digi­tiza­tion — as well as compa­nies from the broad­band tele­com­mu­ni­ca­ti­ons, IT services, soft­ware and health­care sectors. Since 2020, DBAG has also been repre­sen­ted in Italy with its own office in Milan. Assets mana­ged or advi­sed by the DBAG Group amount to appro­xi­m­ately 2.5 billion euros.

Digital Publishing: LionsHome Acquires Franke Media

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Hamburg / Berlin / Oister­wijk — Lions­Home, toge­ther with its majo­rity share­hol­der Water­land Private Equity, is working at full speed on the further deve­lo­p­ment of a Euro­pean digi­tal publi­shing group: Follo­wing the successful inte­gra­tion of the product compa­ri­son plat­form Fashiola, Lions­Home has now acqui­red the Dutch opera­tor of deal & coupon portals Franke Media B.V..

Lions­Home GmbH from Berlin, which has been in exis­tence since 2014, has deve­lo­ped into a leading product compa­ri­son plat­form for Home & Living and is now one of the largest Euro­pean furnis­hing portals with over three million users in ten count­ries every month. In 2022, the majo­rity invest­ment by growth inves­tor Water­land marked the start of the deve­lo­p­ment of a leading Euro­pean commerce content group that will aggre­gate a wide range of digi­tal publi­shing models, e‑commerce & e‑service verti­cals, and geogra­phic markets under one roof. A first mile­stone in this stra­tegy was reached within a very short time in mid-2022 with the acqui­si­tion of Fashiola, which makes the online offe­rings of a large number of leading fashion brands compa­ra­ble for its users in more than 25 countries.

Franke Media, a leading opera­tor of deal & coupon portals, has now joined the group as its newest member, having built the most visi­ted discount websites in the Nether­lands and Belgium since its incep­tion in 2012. On Acties.nl and Deals.be, every month more than 1.5 million unique visi­tors find coupons and promo­ti­ons that come from part­ner­ships with major natio­nal and inter­na­tio­nal brands such as bol.com, Amazon, ASOS, H&M, Nike and HEMA. The seller of the shares is foun­der Vince Franke, who will remain on board as CEO of Franke Media and will take a reverse stake in the Group as part of the transaction.

“At Water­land, we have always focu­sed on long-term and successful buy & build stra­te­gies, estab­li­shing tomorrow’s market leaders in exci­ting growth markets — Lions­Home is no excep­tion. The Group is ideally posi­tio­ned to become one of the leading part­ners for commerce content adver­ti­sing with broad coverage of verti­cal and geogra­phic e‑commerce markets as well as digi­tal publi­shing models. We look forward to working with Vince Franke and his team — they are very ambi­tious and excel­lently posi­tio­ned in terms of SEO exper­tise,” said Dr. Cars­ten Rahlfs, Mana­ging Part­ner at Water­land (Photo © Waterland).

“The acqui­si­tion of Franke Media marks another important step towards our vision of support­ing users across all chan­nels in their purcha­sing decis­i­ons,” added Michael Röcker, CEO of Lions­Home and the Group. “By expan­ding our Deals & Coupons capa­bi­li­ties, we will be able to offer our part­ners even more attrac­tive adver­ti­sing oppor­tu­ni­ties in the future.”

“We are very exci­ted to be working with Lions­Home and Fashiola to build a leading Euro­pean digi­tal publi­shing group. Our goals align perfectly with those of Lions­Home and Water­land,” explains Vince Franke, foun­der and CEO of Franke Media. “Thanks to this part­ner­ship, we can acce­le­rate our inter­na­tio­nal expan­sion and help even more online shop­pers in Europe save on their online purchases.”

About Lions­Home

With around 100 million users a year, product compa­ri­son website opera­tor Lions­Home is one of Europe’s leading digi­tal publi­shing houses. Lions­Home offers an inno­va­tive online service to browse furni­ture and home access­ories as well as fashion from a variety of stores at a glance and compare offers. The company was foun­ded in 2014 by Chris­toph Köni­ger and Michael Röcker in Berlin and has since become one of the fastest growing digi­tal brands in the home & living sector. Lions­Home was named a Digital100 winner by Simi­lar­Web in 2022, making it one of the top ten fastest-growing digi­tal brands in the Home & Living segment. The add-on Fashiola was acqui­red in July 2022 and expan­ded the product port­fo­lio into the fashion segment.

About Franke Media B.V.

Franke Media, based in Oister­wijk, is one of the leading compa­nies in the Dutch affi­liate marke­ting world and opera­tes Acties.nl and Deals.be, the most visi­ted discount websites in the Nether­lands and Belgium. Across all plat­forms, more than 1.5 million users a month become aware of the wide range of discount and special offers on the web pages. The team ensu­res that visi­tors always find the most inte­res­t­ing and favorable discounts and special offers, ensu­ring satis­fied custo­mers and maxi­mum results for part­ners. Part­ner­ships exist with nume­rous major natio­nal and inter­na­tio­nal brands, inclu­ding bol.com, Amazon, ASOS, H&M, Nike and HEMA, among others.

About Water­land

Water­land is an inde­pen­dent private equity invest­ment firm that helps compa­nies realize their growth plans. With substan­tial finan­cial support and indus­try exper­tise, Water­land enables its port­fo­lio compa­nies to achieve acce­le­ra­ted growth both orga­ni­cally and through acqui­si­ti­ons. Water­land has offices in the Nether­lands (Bussum), Belgium (Antwerp), France (Paris), Germany (Hamburg, Munich), Poland (Warsaw), the UK (London, Manches­ter), Ireland (Dublin), Denmark (Copen­ha­gen), Norway (Oslo), Spain (Barce­lona) and Switz­er­land (Zurich). Curr­ently, appro­xi­m­ately 14 billion euros in equity funds are under management.

Water­land has consis­t­ently outper­for­med with its invest­ments since its incep­tion in 1999. The firm ranks fourth globally in the HEC/Dow Jones Private Equity Perfor­mance Rankings (Janu­ary 2023) and seventh among global private equity firms in the Preqin Consis­tent Perfor­mers in Global Private Equity & Venture Capi­tal Report 2022.
www.waterland.de

 

Equistone subsidiary Andra Tech Group expands with DKH Metaalbewerking

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Amster­dam / Munich — Andra Tech Group, a leading group of compa­nies focu­sed on the manu­fac­tu­ring of precis­ion mecha­ni­cal compon­ents, successfully makes its second acqui­si­tion under the aegis of Equis­tone: With the majo­rity acqui­si­tion of DKH Metaal­be­werk­ing B.V. (“DKH”), a specia­li­zed manu­fac­tu­rer of complex metal­lic parts and compon­ents, the Dutch group further expands its presence in its home market. The group takes over DKH from its foun­der and CEO Fran­cois van Hirtum, who has deve­lo­ped the company into an estab­lished part­ner for a deman­ding custo­mer base from various high-tech industries.

Head­quar­te­red in the Nether­lands, Andra Tech Group (form­erly Kusters Beheer) has grown into a leading group for the manu­fac­ture of high-tech precis­ion compon­ents and modu­les since its foun­ding in 1973. Follo­wing the acqui­si­tion of metal specia­list DKH, the Group now grows to a total of seven compa­nies. As a result, the Andra Tech Group employs around 500 highly quali­fied employees across the group, who use their many years of expe­ri­ence to serve an inter­na­tio­nal custo­mer base — with a parti­cu­lar focus on the semi­con­duc­tor market as well as the aero­space, trans­port, pack­a­ging, food and medi­cal indus­tries. In addi­tion to the deve­lo­p­ment of high-tech proto­ty­pes and produc­tion of small to medium-sized series of precis­ion compon­ents, the Group combi­nes the highest level of exper­tise in the proces­sing of complex metals as well as synthe­tic and compo­site mate­ri­als with state-of-the-art tech­no­lo­gies (inclu­ding in the areas of 3D metal prin­ting and clean room assem­bly systems).

Based in Uden, the Nether­lands, DKH has grown since its foun­ding in 1999 to become a specia­list in the manu­fac­ture of complex, precis­ion mecha­ni­cal parts and compon­ents with a focus on CNC milling and turning. With solu­ti­ons for small to medium-sized product series, the company acts as a relia­ble part­ner for its custo­mers from diverse indus­tries — inclu­ding the manu­fac­tu­ring and food proces­sing indus­tries as well as the trans­por­ta­tion sector. The company curr­ently employs around 30 expe­ri­en­ced, highly quali­fied employees.

With the acqui­si­tion of DKH, Andra Tech Group successfully reali­zes its second acqui­si­tion within a short period of time. This is inten­ded on the one hand to further expand the Group’s growth and presence in its home market, and on the other hand to posi­tion DKH at the same time to best meet incre­asing custo­mer demand for its products.

“Toge­ther with the team, we have deve­lo­ped DKH into an important part­ner for the produc­tion of custo­mi­zed products in the Nether­lands. Now, through the merger with Andra Tech Group, we want to take the company’s previous success and deve­lo­p­ment to a new level,” explains Fran­cois van Hirtum, foun­der and CEO of DKH.

Geert Ketel­a­ars, CEO of Andra Tech Group, adds: “We are plea­sed to welcome DKH and its employees as a new member of our group. Toge­ther, we intend to conti­nue the impres­sive growth achie­ved under the leader­ship of Fran­cois van Hirtum.”

“With DKH, the Andra Tech Group gains another strong part­ner, which is excel­lently posi­tio­ned in its market. With its high quality stan­dards and compre­hen­sive tech­ni­cal know-how, DKH, now the seventh member, under­lines the strong tech­ni­cal capa­bi­li­ties of the group and once again increa­ses the attrac­ti­ve­ness towards the alre­ady broad custo­mer base,” explains Hubert van Wolfs­win­kel, Part­ner in Equistone’s Amster­dam office.

Respon­si­ble for the tran­sac­tion on the part of Equis­tone are Hubert van Wolfs­win­kel, Dr. Marc Arens (photo © Equis­tone), Phil­ipp Gauss and Josh Aalbers.

Equis­tone was advi­sed on the tran­sac­tion by PwC (Finan­cial & Tax) and Vesper (Legal).

About Equis­tone Part­ners Europe

Equis­tone Part­ners Europe is one of the most active Euro­pean equity inves­tors with a team of more than 40 invest­ment specia­lists in seven offices in Germany, Switz­er­land, the Nether­lands, France and the UK. The Equis­tone funds invest prima­rily in estab­lished medium-sized compa­nies with a good market posi­tion, above-average growth poten­tial and an enter­prise value of between EUR 50 and 500 million. Since incep­tion, equity has been inves­ted in more than 170 tran­sac­tions. The port­fo­lio curr­ently compri­ses around 50 compa­nies across Europe, inclu­ding around 20 active holdings in Germany, Switz­er­land, the Nether­lands and Belgium. Equis­tone is curr­ently inves­t­ing from its sixth fund, which closed in March 2018 with €2.8 billion. In addi­tion, the “Equis­tone Reinvest­ment Fund” was recently laun­ched, from which it is possi­ble to reinvest in mino­rity posi­ti­ons follo­wing sales of port­fo­lio compa­nies from the main funds. www.equistonepe.com

About Andra Tech Group https://werkenbijandratech.nl/home

About DKH Metaal­be­werk­ing https://www.dkhmetaal.nl/

AURELIUS growth capital investment G&N acquires Renz Sicherheitstechnik

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Grün­wald /Eningen unter Achalm — G&N Holding GmbH (“G&N” or “G&N Group”), a port­fo­lio company of AURELIUS Wachs­tums­ka­pi­tal, has acqui­red Renz Sicher­heits­tech­nik GmbH & Co KG (“Renz Sicher­heits­tech­nik”). The company offers high-quality services in the field of tech­ni­cal buil­ding equip­ment for fire alarm systems, secu­rity tech­no­logy as well as IT and tele­com­mu­ni­ca­ti­ons technology.

A signi­fi­cant share of sales is gene­ra­ted with main­ten­ance and service. In addi­tion, Renz Sicher­heits­tech­nik has its own 24/7 service and emer­gency call center. The company’s head­quar­ters are loca­ted in Enin­gen unter Achalm. A further four bran­ches are loca­ted on Lake Cons­tance, in Ulm, in Allgäu and in Heil­bronn. G&N’s exis­ting loca­ti­ons in southern Germany will be suita­bly expan­ded. The opera­tio­nal manage­ment of Renz Sicher­heits­tech­nik by Björn Renz and Jörg Schwarz will conti­nue in the long term after the tran­sac­tion. In addi­tion, Björn Renz remains signi­fi­cantly invol­ved and streng­thens the exis­ting manage­ment of the G&N Group.

The acqui­si­tion repres­ents the fourth add-on acqui­si­tion of the G&N Group and streng­thens its market posi­tion as a leading manu­fac­tu­rer-inde­pen­dent service provi­der throug­hout Germany. This unders­cores AURELIUS Growth Capital’s active approach to expan­ding port­fo­lio compa­nies through stra­te­gic acqui­si­ti­ons of market participants.

“The exis­ting manage­ment team around Björn Renz has achie­ved impres­sive growth and deve­lo­ped the company into one of the region’s leading service provi­ders in the secu­rity and commu­ni­ca­ti­ons tech­no­logy sector in southern Germany. We are proud to work with Renz Sicher­heits­tech­nik to streng­then the market posi­tion of the G&N Group in Germany,” said Nico Vitense, Mana­ging Part­ner at AURELIUS Wachstumskapital.

“A part­ner­ship between the G&N Group and Renz Sicher­heits­tech­nik signi­fi­cantly streng­thens our market posi­tion in the econo­mic­ally strong region of Southern Germany. We are very much looking forward to working with Björn Renz and Jörg Schwarz and their entire team,” commen­ted Stefan Carle (Mana­ging Direc­tor and Co-CEO of G&N) and Chris­tian Dahl (Mana­ging Direc­tor and Co-CEO of G&N).

“We value the G&N Group as a long-stan­ding confi­dant in the market. With AURELIUS growth capi­tal behind us, we are convin­ced that we can conti­nue to expand the company sustain­ably and build on the histo­ri­cal growth. The team and I are looking forward to the future toge­ther and the next steps,” added Björn Renz (Mana­ging Direc­tor of Renz Sicherheitstechnik).

On the part of AURELIUS Growth Capi­tal, Mana­ging Part­ner Nico Vitense and his team mana­ged the transaction.

Advi­sor AURELIUS Growth Capital

Blue­mont Consul­ting (Markus Frän­kel, Commer­cial Due Diligence),
Ebner Stolz (Jörg Scho­berth, Finan­cial and Tax Due Diligence)
Kuzaj Witt­mann & Part­ner (Hans-Jörg Witt­mann, legal due dili­gence and legal advice).

AURELIUS is a pan-Euro­pean alter­na­tive invest­ment group with offices in London, Luxem­bourg, Munich, Amster­dam, Stock­holm, Madrid, Milan, Berlin and Düssel­dorf. AURELIUS has exten­sive opera­tio­nal exper­tise as well as expe­ri­ence and is thus in a posi­tion to acce­le­rate the value crea­tion process in its port­fo­lio companies.

The main invest­ment plat­forms are the AURELIUS Euro­pean Oppor­tu­ni­ties IV Fund and the exch­ange-traded AURELIUS Equity Oppor­tu­ni­ties SE & Co. KGaA (ISIN: DE000A0JK2A8, stock exch­ange symbol: AR4), which acquire group spin-offs and compa­nies with deve­lo­p­ment poten­tial in the midmar­ket sector. The core element of the invest­ment stra­tegy is to grow the port­fo­lio compa­nies with a team of nearly 100 in-house opera­tio­nal taskforce experts.

AURELIUS is also active in the busi­ness areas of growth capi­tal, real estate and alter­na­tive forms of finan­cing. AURELIUS Growth Capi­tal parti­ci­pa­tes in LBO tran­sac­tions for midmar­ket succes­sion solu­ti­ons. AURELIUS Real Estate Oppor­tu­ni­ties focu­ses on real estate invest­ments with sustainable value enhance­ment poten­tial through active manage­ment. AURELIUS Finance Company offers flexi­ble finan­cing solu­ti­ons for compa­nies throug­hout Europe.

VR Equity investment KTP Kunststoff Palettentechnik acquires K2 PAK

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Frank­furt am Main / Bous — KTP Kunst­stoff Palet­ten­tech­nik GmbH (KTP) has acqui­red the majo­rity of shares in K2 PAK of Koper, Slove­nia. KTP was supported in this by the Frank­furt-based invest­ment company VR Equi­typ­art­ner, which holds a mino­rity stake in the Saar­land-based company. KTP is one of the Euro­pean market leaders in the produc­tion and deve­lo­p­ment of foldable large contai­ners and large load carri­ers as well as pallets and carrier systems made of plas­tic. With the acqui­si­tion of K2 PAK, KTP is streng­thening its busi­ness area around the inner pack­a­ging of trans­port boxes, lever­aging valuable syner­gies between the two compa­nies and conti­nuing its long-term growth strategy.

KTP had alre­ady acqui­red a majo­rity stake in K2 PAK at the begin­ning of 2022; the stake was now signi­fi­cantly increased again at the turn of the year. The remai­ning shares remain with the mana­ging part­ner Marco Krmac. For more than two deca­des, the family-owned company K2 PAK has been deve­lo­ping and supp­ly­ing advan­ced indus­trial reusable pack­a­ging solu­ti­ons made of a wide variety of mate­ri­als as an inner packer, provi­ding opti­mum protec­tion for custo­mers’ compon­ents during trans­port. There are alre­ady long-stan­ding busi­ness rela­ti­onships with KTP — the inte­gra­tion will enable further syner­gies to be lever­a­ged and deve­lo­p­ment and inno­va­tion oppor­tu­ni­ties to be driven forward.

KTP Kunst­stoff Palet­ten­tech­nik GmbH, based in Bous (Saar­land), has specia­li­zed in the manu­fac­ture and deve­lo­p­ment of foldable large contai­ners and large load carri­ers as well as pallets and carrier systems made of plas­tic since 1988. The advan­ta­ges of the KTP contai­ners are the ease of use and the space saving due to volume reduc­tion. In addi­tion, resour­ces are conser­ved — both through the use of recy­cled raw mate­ri­als and the possi­bi­lity of retur­ning them to the raw mate­rial cycle, and thanks to the lower trans­port weight. VR Equi­typ­art­ner (VREP) had acqui­red a mino­rity stake in KTP at the end of 2011 to support manage­ment in exploi­ting the company’s further growth poten­tial and driving inter­na­tio­na­liza­tion. From its head­quar­ters in Bous and its Chinese sales loca­tion in Taicang, KTP now exports its products to over 100 countries.

“The 2022 finan­cial year was the best in KTP’s history,” says a deligh­ted KTP Mana­ging Direc­tor Martin Hent­schel: “We also acqui­red a majo­rity stake in K2 PAK, thus ente­ring the inner pack­a­ging market. This expands our offer to our custo­mers, increa­ses our compe­ti­ti­ve­ness and enhan­ces custo­mer proximity.”

Chris­tian Futter­lieb, Mana­ging Direc­tor at VR Equi­typ­art­ner, also welco­mes the new part­ner­ship: “With the acqui­si­tion of K2 PAK, KTP is conti­nuing its successful growth story: after the strong expan­sion of produc­tion capa­ci­ties, the ongo­ing diver­si­fi­ca­tion out of the auto­mo­tive sector into other indus­tries and the successful inter­na­tio­na­liza­tion, the acqui­si­tion of K2 PAK is a real game chan­ger. The addressa­ble market has increased signi­fi­cantly and now offers custo­mer access through both trans­port boxes and inner packaging.”

The tran­sac­tion team of VR Equi­typ­art­ner: Sarah Oster­mann, Simone Weck

Advi­sor VR Equitypartner:
Finan­cial Due Dili­gence: ECOVIS CF, Ljubljana, with Chris­toph Geymayer
Legal due dili­gence and legal advice: CMS REICH-ROHRWIG HAINZ / Senica & Part­ners, Ljubljana, with Aleš Lunder

KKR: Harald Dürr now responsible for Family Capital business in the DACH region

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Frank­furt — KKR, a leading global inves­tor, has appoin­ted Harald Dürr (photo) as Mana­ging Direc­tor of KKR’s Client and Part­ner Group (CPG) to lead its Family Capi­tal client busi­ness in the DACH region. In his role, Harald Dürr will focus on expan­ding KKR’s offe­ring for family offices and further streng­thening KKR’s posi­tio­ning in the DACH region. He also beco­mes part of KKR’s Family Capi­tal team in EMEA, which was estab­lished in 2014 to build long-term, trus­ted rela­ti­onships with high net worth fami­lies and entrepreneurs.

Harald Dürr spent more than 25 years at Deut­sche Bank, where he held various manage­ment posi­ti­ons and was respon­si­ble for the Family Capi­tal divi­sion, most recently as Senior Rela­ti­onship Mana­ger and Mana­ging Direc­tor in Frank­furt. In these roles, he focu­sed on complex client situa­tions and became a trus­ted advi­sor to some of the bank’s most important clients, inclu­ding family offices, busi­ness foun­ders and entre­pre­neurs. He also helped the bank increase its market share among the top 500 fami­lies in Germany.

Previously, he was a member of the advi­sory board of two German medium-sized compa­nies, where he addi­tio­nally advi­sed an inter­na­tio­nal wealthy family in connec­tion with their German invest­ments. Chris­tian Ollig, Part­ner and Head of DACH at KKR, said: “We are very plea­sed to have Harald Dürr join our growing team. With his exten­sive expe­ri­ence in serving family offices and entre­pre­neurs, Harald is an excel­lent addi­tion to our Client and Part­ner Group in the DACH region. We are plea­sed to have Harald Dürr join our team and lead KKR’s rela­ti­onships with this special group of inves­tors as we conti­nue to expand our presence in Germany.”

Harald Dürr, Mana­ging Direc­tor, CPG at KKR in Germany, said: “I am deligh­ted to join KKR’s team in Frank­furt. I look forward to lever­aging my expe­ri­ence, know­ledge and network in the German asset manage­ment market to further streng­then KKR’s exten­sive offe­ring in the DACH region and attract new inves­tors in the growing family capi­tal space.”

Harald Dürr’s appoint­ment is part of KKR’s ongo­ing efforts to expand its team in the DACH region and follows a number of appoint­ments in KKR’s Client and Part­ner Group, inclu­ding the appoint­ment of Hagen Raab as a Direc­tor in 2018 and Steven Bayly as a
Mana­ging Direc­tor in 2021, as well as the appoint­ment of Moritz Mondo­vits, who joined KKR in 2022 as Prin­ci­pal toge­ther with Hanna Kunz­mann as Asso­ciate. KKR’s Client and Part­ner Group is respon­si­ble for advi­sing and serving KKR’s Limi­ted Part­ners and works to further diver­sify KKR’s client base. The team is respon­si­ble for attrac­ting new inves­tors from all regi­ons and from various insti­tu­ti­ons. By incre­asingly expan­ding its capa­bi­li­ties in this area, KKR aims to address the growing importance of family offices and intro­duce them to the full range of KKR’s invest­ment opportunities.

About KKR

KKR is a leading global inves­tor provi­ding alter­na­tive asset manage­ment, capi­tal markets and insu­rance solu­ti­ons. The focus is on gene­ra­ting attrac­tive invest­ment returns through a long-term and disci­pli­ned invest­ment approach, employ­ing highly skil­led profes­sio­nals and support­ing growth at its invest­ment proper­ties and in the commu­ni­ties where KKR has a presence. KKR finan­ces funds that invest in private equity, credit products, real assets, and — through stra­te­gic part­ners — hedge funds. KKR’s insu­rance subsi­dia­ries offer reti­re­ment, life and reinsu­rance products under the manage­ment of Global Atlan­tic Finan­cial Group. www.kkr.com, Twit­ter @KKR_Co.

Deutsche Aircraft Holdings acquires minority stake in DAH Beteiligungsgesellschaft

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Wess­ling / Munich. — Deut­sche Aircraft Holdings (DAH), the sole owner of the compa­nies in the Deut­sche Aircraft Group, recently secu­red an important mino­rity inte­rest in DAH Betei­li­gungs­ge­sell­schaft mbH, which is jointly held by OHB and AFK.

The invest­ment is being made through a joint venture between aero­space company OHB SE and invest­ment company AFK Enter­prise AG, and will drive the deve­lo­p­ment of new green avia­tion tech­no­lo­gies inclu­ding D328eco™, an envi­ron­men­tally friendly version of the proven Do328® short-range passen­ger aircraft manu­fac­tu­red by Deut­sche Aircraft GmbH. Under the agree­ment, the inves­tors have the option of acqui­ring further shares up to a majo­rity stake at a later date.

Deut­sche Aircraft’s D328 series is based on the proud heri­tage of Dornier, and Deut­sche Aircraft holds the type certi­fi­cate for the Do328®. With new propul­sion systems, latest gene­ra­tion avia­tion tech­no­logy and more seats, the D328eco will set new stan­dards for envi­ron­men­tally friendly short-haul flying. Deut­sche Aircraft is also inves­ti­ga­ting various alter­na­tive fuels and future climate-neutral propul­sion systems as part of its product road­map. The Do328 is the last commer­cial aircraft to date to have been deve­lo­ped and built enti­rely in-house by a German company — and this will also be the case with the D328eco.

The invest­ment in DAH is subject to the appr­oval of the German govern­ment, which is support­ing the deve­lo­p­ment of the D328eco with a large-volume deve­lo­p­ment cost loan and is also support­ing the deve­lo­p­ment of clean avia­tion initia­ti­ves at Deut­sche Aircraft. The tran­sac­tion is expec­ted to close in the first quar­ter of 2023, once regu­la­tory appr­ovals and other custo­mary closing condi­ti­ons are satisfied.

Advi­sors to Deut­sche Aircraft Holdings (DAH): SKW Schwarz
Lead Part­ner Dr. Kolja Petro­vicki toge­ther with Cohen & Gresser (US law, UK law) and Carey Olsen (Cayman Islands law).

Consul­ting Attor­neys: Dr. Kolja Petro­vicki, LL.M. (UPenn), (Corporate/M&A, lead), Dr. Oliver M. Bühr (Corporate/M&A), Dr. Tatjana Schroe­der (Restruc­tu­ring), Alex­an­der Möller, Sabrina Hoch­brück­ner (both Labor Law), Stefan Skulesch (Tax) (all Frank­furt); Dr. Klaus Jankow­ski, Maria Rothä­mel (both Public Law, both Berlin), Heiko Wunder­lich (Tax); Eva Bona­cker (Merger Control) (both Munich).

About SKW Schwarz

SKW Schwarz is an inde­pen­dent law firm with 130 lawy­ers, four loca­ti­ons and a common claim: We think ahead. As a full-service law firm and member of TerraLex, we are globally networked and advise in all rele­vant areas of busi­ness law. Also in an area that is parti­cu­larly important for compa­nies: the future. We analyze, create clarity and provide advice today in the key legal areas of tomorrow.

About AFK Enterprise

AFK Enter­prise AG, based in Switz­er­land, the indus­trial arm of the AFK Kumar Family Office, is a private family office char­ged with the preser­va­tion, manage­ment and growth of the AFK Kumar family’s wealth. AFK makes stra­te­gic invest­ments across a broad spec­trum of markets, with a focus on equity and growth capi­tal. With its inter­na­tio­nal focus, AFK actively pursues and enga­ges in a variety of high-tech invest­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties in Europe, the U.S. the Middle East, India, Asia, and emer­ging markets.

About OHB SE

OHB SE is a German space and tech­no­logy group and one of the leading inde­pen­dent forces in the Euro­pean space indus­try. With many years of expe­ri­ence in the realiza­tion of sophisti­ca­ted projects, OHB SE is excel­lently posi­tio­ned in inter­na­tio­nal compe­ti­tion and offers its custo­mers a broad port­fo­lio of inno­va­tive products in the three busi­ness units: Space Systems, Aero­space and Digi­tal. The company employs around 3,000 people and gene­ra­tes total sales of around one billion euros.

About Deut­sche Aircraft GmbH

Deut­sche Aircraft is Germany’s new targe­ted OEM. Deut­sche Aircraft’s new D328eco™ aircraft, based on the legacy of avia­tion pioneers, is desi­gned to signi­fi­cantly reduce opera­ting and main­ten­ance costs and lower the over­all carbon foot­print. This is in line with Deut­sche Aircraft’s vision and stra­te­gic road­map to support a more sustainable future for avia­tion. The D328eco will offer maxi­mum flexi­bi­lity as it can run on exis­ting avia­tion gaso­line as well as 100% H2-PtL. The aircraft is assem­bled in the paper­less finis­hing line (FAL) in Leipzig/Germany. All para­me­ters are in high demand in the current avia­tion envi­ron­ment, and there is alre­ady increased inte­rest in the D328eco among poten­tial custo­mers and partners.

Deutsche Beteiligungs AG: Generation change on the Board of Management

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Frank­furt am Main — The Spokes­man of the Board of Manage­ment of Deut­sche Betei­li­gungs AG (DBAG), Tors­ten Grede, intends to resign as a member and Spokes­man of the Board of Manage­ment at the end of Febru­ary 2023 in the best possi­ble agree­ment with the Super­vi­sory Board. This was announ­ced today by Tors­ten Grede and the Super­vi­sory Board of DBAG. The new spokes­man for the Execu­tive Board from March 1, 2023 is to be Execu­tive Board member Tom Alzin. Mela­nie Wiese (photo) will join the DBAG Manage­ment Board as the new Chief Finan­cial Offi­cer on Janu­ary 1, 2023, taking over respon­si­bi­lity for Finance from Tors­ten Grede.

“My decis­ion to ask the Super­vi­sory Board to prema­tu­rely termi­nate my service on the Manage­ment Board after 32 years of service to DBAG marks the comple­tion of the long-plan­ned gene­ra­tio­nal change on the Manage­ment Board,” Grede said today. And: “I am parti­cu­larly plea­sed that it will be my long-time colle­agues who, toge­ther with Mela­nie Wiese, will steer DBAG’s fortu­nes in the future, and that the Super­vi­sory Board will entrust my colle­ague Tom Alzin with the office of Spokes­man of the Manage­ment Board.”

The Manage­ment Board of DBAG curr­ently has three members. In addi­tion to Mr. Grede and Mr. Alzin, this is Jannick Hune­cke. Tors­ten Grede has been a member of the Execu­tive Board since 2001 and has been Spokes­man of the Execu­tive Board since 2013.

“The Super­vi­sory Board would like to express its sincere thanks to Tors­ten Grede for the many years of successful coope­ra­tion,” said Dr. Hendrik Otto, Chair­man of DBAG’s Super­vi­sory Board today. And: “He has played a key role in shaping DBAG’s stra­te­gic deve­lo­p­ment and growth and has played a major role in estab­li­shing DBAG as one of the leading German private equity firms with assets under manage­ment or advi­sory of 2.5 billion euros.”

Tom Alzin will become the new Spokes­man of the Manage­ment Board of DBAG as of March 1, 2023. He joined DBAG in 2004 and has been a member of the Manage­ment Board since 2021. “I am very plea­sed about the confi­dence of the Super­vi­sory Board. I am convin­ced that DBAG is follo­wing the right path with its strong posi­tio­ning as one of Germany’s most renow­ned private equity firms and our new stra­te­gic initia­ti­ves. These include the expan­sion of our acti­vi­ties in the Italian market, the exten­sion of our range of equity solu­ti­ons for medium-sized and prima­rily family-mana­ged compa­nies, and the focus on sectors that bene­fit from struc­tu­ral growth. I will do ever­y­thing in my power to further advance the dyna­mic deve­lo­p­ment of the company,” said Tom Alzin.

Mela­nie Wiese worked for the energy compa­nies E.ON SE, Innogy SE, Essen, and Bayern­werk AG, Regens­burg, between 2017 and 2022 — most recently as a member of the boards of Innogy SE and Bayern­werk AG, respon­si­ble for finance (CFO, Bayern­werk AG). Previously, as Head of Accoun­ting & Report­ing at Innogy SE and Head of Group Accoun­ting at E.ON SE, she was invol­ved in a wide range of topics, inclu­ding group accoun­ting, M&A tran­sac­tions, taxes, control­ling and finan­cing. Previously, she headed the inter­na­tio­nal shared service orga­niza­tion of the tech­no­logy group ZF Fried­richs­ha­fen (2014 to 2017) and before that worked as a manage­ment consul­tant at Accen­ture Manage­ment Consul­ting and The Hackett Group.

“We are very plea­sed that in Mela­nie Wiese we have been able to attract a proven finan­cial expert with many years of manage­ment expe­ri­ence from German indus­try,” Super­vi­sory Board Chair­man Dr. Hendrik Otto said today. And: “Conti­nuity and a long-term orien­ta­tion are the corner­sto­nes of the private equity busi­ness; this is also reflec­ted in the smooth gene­ra­tio­nal change on the Manage­ment Board, and this is what DBAG’s Manage­ment Board also stands for in its new composition.”

Wiese expects nume­rous chal­lenges at her new employer. In the shadow of the nega­tive capi­tal market deve­lo­p­ment, DBAG had to absorb a loss of 98 million euros in the past fiscal year (until the end of Septem­ber 2022).

About DBAG

Deut­sche Betei­li­gungs AG (DBAG), listed on the stock exch­ange since 1985, is one of Germany’s most renow­ned private equity compa­nies. As an inves­tor and fund advi­sor, DBAG’s invest­ment focus has tradi­tio­nally been on medium-sized compa­nies with a focus on well-posi­tio­ned compa­nies with deve­lo­p­ment poten­tial, prima­rily in the DACH region. The indus­try focus is on manu­fac­tu­ring compa­nies, indus­trial service provi­ders and Indus­try­Tech compa­nies — i.e. compa­nies whose products enable auto­ma­tion, robo­tics and digi­tiza­tion — as well as compa­nies from the broad­band tele­com­mu­ni­ca­ti­ons, IT services, soft­ware and health­care sectors. Since 2020, DBAG has also been repre­sen­ted in Italy with its own office in Milan. Assets mana­ged or advi­sed by the DBAG Group amount to appro­xi­m­ately 2.5 billion euros.

EMERAM subsidiary Officium takes over further measurement service provider ifena

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Munich — Offi­cium GmbH has comple­ted the acqui­si­tion of ifena GmbH, successfully conti­nuing its buy-and-build stra­tegy. The fast-growing port­fo­lio company of the invest­ment company EMERAM is inde­pen­dent and one of Germany’s leading meter­ing and billing service provi­ders for water and heat in apart­ment buil­dings and commer­cial proper­ties. As an umbrella company of regio­nal meter­ing service provi­ders, the current tran­sac­tion means that the company has acqui­red nine provi­ders in the past 22 months and mana­ges more than one million meters. — The parties have agreed not to disc­lose the purchase price. Offi­cium was advi­sed by Noerr (Legal).

With its ninth acqui­si­tion, Offi­cium is now also repre­sen­ted in the Munich metro­po­li­tan region. The Group is thus consis­t­ently expan­ding its presence in Bavaria.

Dr. Alexis Tran-Viet (Photo © Emeram)., Part­ner at EMERAM Capi­tal Part­ners, explains: “With ifena, Offi­cium beco­mes a tech­no­logy company with soft­ware that can read and analyze data across manu­fac­tu­r­ers and can ther­e­fore be used much more flexi­bly. This means that new busi­ness areas such as the digi­tiza­tion of real estate and energy effi­ci­ency coope­ra­ti­ons resul­ting from the amend­ment of the Heating Costs Ordi­nance can be deve­lo­ped more quickly.”

Stephan Kier­meyer, Mana­ging Direc­tor of Offi­ciumadds: “By further deve­lo­ping and scaling ifena’s open plat­form, we will be able to offer our custo­mers and part­ners other services and products in addi­tion to heating cost billing that make a valuable contri­bu­tion to climate protec­tion. The aim is to further expand our market share in Munich, both orga­ni­cally and inor­ga­ni­cally. With our expe­ri­ence and inno­va­tive strength, for exam­ple in digi­tal solu­ti­ons, we are a strong part­ner for property manage­ment compa­nies. In addi­tion, we offer a future-proof soft­ware plat­form for other inde­pen­dent meter­ing service provi­ders who are facing tech­no­lo­gi­cal chal­lenges or are simply looking for a succes­sion solu­tion for their company. Our pipe­line for further growth is well filled.”

ifena foun­der Alex­an­der Lass­lop: “We are deligh­ted about the sale to an expe­ri­en­ced and fast-growing provi­der of heating cost billing services in Germany. The tech­no­logy deve­lo­ped by ifena will enable even more consu­mers to enjoy daily consump­tion trans­pa­rency and thus savings in the future. Against the back­drop of current price increa­ses in the energy sector and ambi­tious climate protec­tion targets, this is more rele­vant than ever and can be offe­red to all inte­res­ted Offi­cium custo­mers in the future.”

ABOUT OFFICIUM — www.officium.gmbh

Offi­cium GmbH is one of the leading inde­pen­dent meter­ing and energy service provi­ders for consump­tion-based meter­ing and billing of water and heat for the housing indus­try. The company was estab­lished as a plat­form invest­ment of funds advi­sed by EMERAM in 2020. As an umbrella company, Offi­cium mana­ges nume­rous regio­nal provi­ders and has a presence prima­rily in Berlin, Bran­den­burg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-West­pha­lia (for exam­ple, Düssel­dorf and Duis­burg), Meck­len­burg-Western Pome­ra­nia, Saxony-Anhalt (Dessau-Roßlau), Saxony (Dres­den and Chem­nitz), Thurin­gia, and Bava­ria (Upper and Lower Fran­co­nia and Munich). Custo­mers are prima­rily small and medium-sized property manage­ment compa­nies and private land­lords. More than one million measu­ring units are now supplied.

About EMERAM CAPITAL PARTNERS — www.emeram.com

EMERAM is one of the leading invest­ment mana­gers for medium-sized compa­nies in German-spea­king count­ries. Funds advi­sed by EMERAM provide more than €500 million in capi­tal for the deve­lo­p­ment of growth compa­nies. The port­fo­lio includes compa­nies from the Technology/Software, Value-added Services and New Consu­mer Stap­les sectors. EMERAM acts as a long-term busi­ness deve­lo­p­ment part­ner for its compa­nies and promo­tes the sustainable growth (orga­nic and inor­ga­nic) of the port­fo­lio compa­nies. In addi­tion, the focus is on the imple­men­ta­tion of holi­stic ESG concepts.

The port­fo­lio curr­ently consists of six plat­form invest­ments with a cumu­la­tive work­force of more than 2,500. The compa­nies conti­nuously achieve double-digit orga­nic sales growth. In addi­tion, a total of 31 add-on acqui­si­ti­ons to date have acce­le­ra­ted growth and enab­led inter­na­tio­nal expansion.

 

Paragon Partners sells inprotec AG to International Chemical Investors Group

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Heitersheim/ Munich — Para­gon Part­ners and the mino­rity share­hol­ders sell 100% of the shares in inpro­tec to Inter­na­tio­nal Chemi­cal Inves­tors Group. The tran­sac­tion is still subject to appr­oval by the rele­vant anti­trust authorities.

Based in Heiters­heim, Baden-Würt­tem­berg, inpro­tec AG is a leading service provi­der for indus­trial contract drying and granu­la­tion based on spray drying, spray granu­la­tion, fluid bed coating as well as matrix encap­su­la­tion. Para­gon acqui­red a majo­rity stake in inpro­tec in 2018 and has since inves­ted more than €20 million in expan­ding its produc­tion faci­li­ties. During the past four years, inpro­tec has signi­fi­cantly expan­ded its market posi­tion as a tech­no­logy leader in large-volume granu­la­tion and drying proces­ses, further broa­dened its custo­mer base, and achie­ved profi­ta­ble busi­ness deve­lo­p­ment with double-digit annual growth rates.

Based on the special strengths of the company, the current manage­ment will conti­nue the successful corpo­rate deve­lo­p­ment of inpro­tec within the ICIG network with ICIG as a future partner.

About Para­gon Partners

Para­gon Part­ners is an owner-mana­ged invest­ment company and has been inves­t­ing in medium-sized compa­nies in German-spea­king count­ries since its foun­da­tion in 2004. The invest­ment port­fo­lio spans various indus­tries and curr­ently compri­ses 14 compa­nies. Curr­ently, Para­gon mana­ges more than €1.2 billion in equity. www.paragon.de

About ICIG

Inter­na­tio­nal Chemi­cal Inves­tors Group is a priva­tely owned indus­trial group with total sales of €4 billion. ICIG focu­ses on three main plat­forms: Fine Chemi­cals under the Weyl­Chem brand, Chlo­ro­vi­nyls under the Vynova brand, and Enter­pri­ses with specia­li­zed compa­nies in fermen­ta­tion products, viscose fila­ments, acti­va­ted carbon and wood preser­va­tion chemi­cals (inclu­ding “Corden BioChem”, “ENKA”, “Carbo­Tech” and “Rütgers Orga­nics”). Since its foun­ding in 2004, ICIG has grown to include more than 20 inde­pen­dent chemi­cal compa­nies, all of which have their orig­ins in large global chemi­cal or phar­maceu­ti­cal groups. Today, the ICIG compa­nies employ around 4,500 people and operate more than 20 produc­tion sites in Europe and the United States. Addi­tio­nal infor­ma­tion can be found at www.ic-investors.com.

Clif­ford Chance advi­sed Para­gon Part­ners and the mino­rity share­hol­ders on the sale of 100% of the shares in inpro­tec to Inter­na­tio­nal Chemi­cal Inves­tors Group.

The Clif­ford Chance team was led by part­ner Dr. Mark Aschen­bren­ner (Corporate/Private Equity, Munich).

 

Exit: Active Capital sells shares in SchahlLED Lighting to Thorpe

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Munich/ Worces­ter­shire (UK) — ARQIS has advi­sed Active Capi­tal Company (ACC) on the sale of its majo­rity stake in LED specia­list Schahl­LED Light­ing (Schahl­LED) to FW Thorpe Plc (Thorpe).

ACC inves­ted in Schahl­LED in 2019 as ACC’s first direct invest­ment in Germany. Schahl­LED is a provi­der of intel­li­gent indus­trial light­ing solu­ti­ons. The company is based in Unter­schleiß­heim near Munich and is active in Germany, Austria, Switz­er­land and Poland. Toge­ther with manage­ment, ACC has achie­ved strong growth for the company and has become the prefer­red LED solu­tion provi­der for many play­ers in indus­try and logi­stics. The incor­po­ra­tion into the Thorpe Group marks the begin­ning of the next growth phase for Schahl­LED, espe­ci­ally for the expan­sion across Europe. The current manage­ment will remain with the company.

Thorpe, head­quar­te­red in Worces­ter­shire, UK and listed on the London Stock Exch­ange, designs, manu­fac­tures and supplies profes­sio­nal light­ing equip­ment. The acqui­si­tion of Schahl­LED builds on a successful part­ner­ship. Schahl­LED and Thor­lux Light­ing, a divi­sion of FW Thorpe Plc Group, have alre­ady been working toge­ther since 2019, distri­bu­ting Smart­Scan light­ing control products mainly in the German market.

The ARQIS team of Dr. Mauritz von Einem and Dr. Chris­tof Alex­an­der Schnei­der has advi­sed ACC on seve­ral tran­sac­tions in recent years, inclu­ding two add-on tran­sac­tions for Schahl­LED. ACC is an inde­pen­dent private equity inves­tor focu­sing on small and medium-sized compa­nies in the Nether­lands and Germany. ACC maxi­mi­zes the long-term value of its invest­ments by helping manage­ment execute value-added projects and provi­ding access to its exten­sive part­ner network.

Advi­sor ACC: ARQIS (Düsseldorf/ Munich)
Dr. Mauritz von Einem, Dr. Chris­tof Alex­an­der Schnei­der (both lead/ Transactions/ M&A); Coun­sel: Donata Lasson (Labor Law); Mana­ging Asso­ciate: Benja­min Bandur (Corporate/M&A), Nora Meyer-Strat­mann (IP); Asso­ciate: Chris­toph Lutz (Corporate/M&A)

Advi­sors to Thorpe: BDO Legal
Thors­ten Schu­ma­cher, Dr. Konstan­tin Michelsen

About ARQIS
ARQIS is an inde­pen­dent busi­ness law firm opera­ting inter­na­tio­nally. The firm was foun­ded in 2006 in Düssel­dorf, Munich and Tokyo. Around 80 lawy­ers and legal specia­lists advise dome­stic and foreign compa­nies at the highest level on German and Japa­nese busi­ness law. With the focus groups Tran­sac­tions, HR.Law, Japan, Data.Law and Risk, the firm is focu­sed on provi­ding holi­stic advice to its clients. www.arqis.com.

DTCP Closes $300 Million Growth Equity III Fund

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Berlin — First closing of $300 million Growth Equity III Fund for DTCP. The fund was laun­ched in March 2022 and has raised capi­tal from new and exis­ting inves­tors, inclu­ding Deut­sche Tele­kom and Soft­Bank Group Inter­na­tio­nal, as well as other insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tors, pension funds, corpo­ra­ti­ons and family offices. DTCP plans to conti­nue to raise substan­tial capi­tal for the fund and aims to complete fund­rai­sing in 2023. A YPOG team led by Jens Kretz­schmann advi­sed DTCP on the first closing.

In line with DTCP’s successful data-driven invest­ment stra­tegy, the Growth Equity III Fund invests in cloud-based enter­prise soft­ware and soft­ware-as-a-service (SaaS) compa­nies in cyber­se­cu­rity, Web3, AI, fintech, verti­cal SaaS solu­ti­ons, and IT appli­ca­ti­ons and cloud infra­struc­ture soft­ware. The Fund is seeking appro­xi­m­ately 25 equity invest­ments of $20 million to $25 million for early growth or expan­sion stage compa­nies, typi­cally as part of a Series B through D or late stage finan­cing round. The fund focu­ses on leading compa­nies in Europe, Israel and the USA that have a solid market posi­tion and a tech­no­lo­gi­cal edge.

Thomas Preuss, Mana­ging Part­ner at DTCP Growth, said, “Our GE III fund is a conti­nua­tion of a proven stra­tegy, and we would like to thank our exis­ting and new inves­tors for their support and trust. With one of the largest specia­list teams for cloud-based enter­prise soft­ware in Europe, we aim to conti­nue support­ing outstan­ding entre­pre­neurs and market leaders in the fast-growing cloud-based enter­prise soft­ware ecosys­tem and create attrac­tive co-invest­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties for our investors.”

Consul­tant DTCP: YPOG

Jens Kretz­schmann (Lead, Funds), Part­ner; Andreas Korten­dick (Tax), Part­ner ; Lenn­art Lorenz (Regu­la­tory), Part­ner; Martin Braun (Funds, Tax), Asso­ciate; Dr. Niklas Ulrich (Regu­la­tory), Senior Asso­ciate; Michael Blank (Funds), Asso­ciate; Stefa­nie Nagel (Regu­la­tory, ESG), Associate

About DTCP

DTCP is an inde­pen­dent invest­ment manage­ment plat­form focu­sed on digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion. DTCP Infra invests in fiber optic networks, mobile towers and data centers. DTCP Growth invests in leading compa­nies that provide cloud-based enter­prise soft­ware. The driving force behind the company’s stra­te­gies is the belief that the conver­gence of networks and the Inter­net will create more wealth, trans­form more busi­nesses and unleash more inno­va­tion than any other deve­lo­p­ment in the history of tech­no­logy. DTCP and its part­ner compa­nies have offices in Hamburg, London, Luxem­bourg, San Fran­cisco, Seoul and Tel Aviv. https://www.dtcp.capital

About YPOG

YPOG is a specia­list tax and commer­cial law firm opera­ting in the core areas of Funds, Tax and Tran­sac­tions. The YPOG team advi­ses a wide variety of clients. These include emer­ging tech­no­logy compa­nies and family-run medium-sized enter­pri­ses as well as corpo­ra­ti­ons and private equity/venture capi­tal funds. YPOG is one of the leading addres­ses for venture capi­tal, private equity and fund struc­tu­ring in Germany. The firm and its part­ners are natio­nally and inter­na­tio­nally ranked by JUVE, Best Lawy­ers, Legal 500, Focus, and Cham­bers and Part­ners. Today, YPOG employs more than 100 expe­ri­en­ced lawy­ers, tax advi­sors, tax specia­lists and a notary in three offices in Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne.

With their ample funding, they are well equipped for the steps ahead, sayEstelle Merle and Charlotte Pallua (r.) - Copyright: topi

topi raises $45 million to establish hardware-as-a-service

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Berlin — Berlin-based fintech topi, foun­ded in 2021, has raised $45 million, inclu­ding $15 million in equity. The round is again led by Crean­dum and Index Ventures with parti­ci­pa­tion from Sili­con Valley-based Triple­Point Capi­tal. This means that the start-up has raised almost 50 million US dollars in less than a year. topi’s tech­ni­cal infra­struc­ture enables resel­lers and manu­fac­tu­r­ers to offer hard­ware subscrip­ti­ons to busi­ness custo­mers. This will revo­lu­tio­nize the way compa­nies procure hard­ware and drive the tran­si­tion to a circu­lar economy.

topi enables retail­ers and manu­fac­tu­r­ers to offer their products as subscriptions

Globally, more than $3,700 billion* in capi­tal expen­dit­ures are made annu­ally. In the field of elec­tro­nic equip­ment alone, a wide variety of opera­ting resour­ces have to be procu­red, ranging from compu­ters, moni­tors, smart­phones or prin­ters to indus­try-speci­fic special machi­nery. Owner­ship of these physi­cal assets, howe­ver, invol­ves both finan­cial and opera­tio­nal costs for compa­nies. topi enables compa­nies to rent hard­ware, turning expen­sive invest­ments into low monthly opera­ting costs. In addi­tion, it helps compa­nies avoid obso­lete hard­ware, save time mana­ging exis­ting devices, improve opera­tio­nal flexi­bi­lity and opti­mize cash flow.

For manu­fac­tu­r­ers and retail­ers, hard­ware subscrip­ti­ons are compli­ca­ted and come with a variety of chal­lenges, such as: Risk and fraud manage­ment, refi­nan­cing, the inclu­sion of insu­rance offe­rings and the asso­cia­ted payment flows. With the subscrip­tion option embedded in the purcha­sing process, B2B resel­lers will be able to offer hard­ware-as-a-service in the online store, tele­sa­les and in stores. topis fraud and risk system checks custo­mers’ credit­wort­hi­ness in real time. Retail­ers and manu­fac­tu­r­ers are thus expan­ding their custo­mer base and impro­ving both the custo­mer expe­ri­ence and the loyalty of their customers.

“We are making the as-a-service models that have long been estab­lished for soft­ware the stan­dard for hard­ware as well,” explain Estelle Merle and Char­lotte Pallua, the foun­ders of topi. “Our subscrip­tion plat­form ensu­res that busi­ness custo­mers can protect their cash while their employees never have to work with outda­ted equip­ment again. We firmly believe that in the future, every retailer and manu­fac­tu­rer will also need to offer their products as a subscrip­tion model in order to remain competitive.”

Stra­te­gic part­ner­ship with GRAVIS

topi also announ­ces a stra­te­gic part­ner­ship with GRAVIS. As one of the leading elec­tro­nics retail­ers in Germany, the company is the first to offer a subscrip­tion model with the fintech’s platform.

“We’ve been looking for a part­ner like topi for a long time,” says Jan Sper­lich, CEO of GRAVIS. “We are thril­led that our busi­ness custo­mers can now easily rent their IT equip­ment in real time and without complex proces­ses and bureau­cra­tic paper­work. Alre­ady during the pilot phase, almost half of our busi­ness custo­mers who rented hard­ware with topi have rented products again. We look forward to further colla­bo­ra­tion and expan­ding our offe­ring using topi’s platform.”

Jan Hammer and Julia Andre, part­ners at Index Ventures, join topi’s Board of Direc­tors. Says Andre, “Compa­nies want to focus on getting good results and not get bogged down by the comple­xity of equip­ment procu­re­ment. topi elimi­na­tes the confu­sion of vendors and costs that make opera­ting equip­ment leasing so diffi­cult, and offers a hard­ware subscrip­tion solu­tion for dealers that opens up unpre­ce­den­ted terms to their busi­ness custo­mers. We are impres­sed with the speed of imple­men­ta­tion at topi and believe they are in the opti­mal posi­tion to make this change happen at scale.”

Around 50 million tons of e‑waste end up in land­fills world­wide every year**, which is over 7 kg per person. Manu­fac­tu­r­ers need to think more long term and not just focus on the purchase, but consider how to give the product a second life or how to recy­cle them properly. At a time when the world is turning more and more to the circu­lar economy, topi will play a key role in redu­cing hard­ware waste.

“We believe topi will be one of the driving forces in resha­ping B2B payments,” said Simon Schmin­cke, gene­ral part­ner at Crean­dum, who also joins the board of direc­tors. “The idea is inno­va­tive, fills a gap that has exis­ted for far too long, and bene­fits ever­yone. In the end, it will be about imple­men­ta­tion. And in terms of that, topi has put toge­ther an incre­di­ble team, the likes of which we’ve rarely seen in a company at this stage.”

topi was foun­ded by Char­lotte Pallua and Estelle Merle, who met at Harvard Busi­ness School and have held leader­ship posi­ti­ons at Apple and Gold­man Sachs. Since its foun­ding last year, topi has grown into a company with 35 employees from 13 count­ries. The team comes from compa­nies such as Revo­lut, PayPal, GoCard­less, Checkout.com, N26, McKin­sey, BCG and Meta. Half of the leader­ship team and 60% of the tech team are female. topi is head­quar­te­red in Berlin, but is being built as a remote-first company to secure talent across Europe. Two thirds of the team work from other Euro­pean countries.

Notes: * S&P Global Market Intel­li­gence, global corpo­rate capi­tal expen­dit­ure, ** Statista, Global e‑waste statis­tics and facts.

About topi
topi is a fintech company whose tech­ni­cal infra­struc­ture enables merchants and manu­fac­tu­r­ers to offer hard­ware subscrip­ti­ons to their busi­ness custo­mers. The Hard­ware-as-a-Service plat­form allows dealers to conve­ni­ently offer their products as rentals to their busi­ness custo­mers online, in tele­sa­les or in the store. The Berlin-based company was foun­ded in 2021 by Char­lotte Pallua and Estelle Merle. topi is funded by Index Ventures, Crean­dum and Sili­con Valley-based Triple­Point Capi­tal, as well as foun­ders and early employees from Adyen, Stripe, N26, Senn­der, Wefox, HelloFresh, Cloud­flare, Perso­nio, Foodora and more

About Crean­dum
Crean­dum, foun­ded in 2003, is a leading pan-Euro­pean venture capi­tal fund. The fund’s port­fo­lio includes more than 120 compa­nies across a wide range of indus­tries, inclu­ding some of Europe’s most successful tech compa­nies, e.g. Spotify, Klarna, Depop, Kry, Trade Repu­blic, Pleo and Vivino. Today, one in six of these compa­nies is a Unicorn.

Creandum’s consul­ting teams are based in Stock­holm, London, Berlin and San Fran­cisco. They have exten­sive opera­tio­nal exper­tise with which they support port­fo­lio compa­nies of the fund from the seed phase to exit and with the aim of making them global market leaders in their cate­gory. For more infor­ma­tion, visit www.creandum.com.

About Index Ventures
Index Ventures invests in outstan­ding foun­ders who are not only ideally posi­tio­ned through rele­vant expe­ri­ence and/or exper­tise, but also intrin­si­cally moti­va­ted to realize their ideas. Index helps entre­pre­neurs build global busi­nesses from their visio­nary ideas and use them to make a posi­tive impact on the world.

EMERAM subsidiary ]init[ takes over Swiss Ironforge Consulting

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Munich/Berlin — ]init[ AG für digi­tale Kommu­ni­ka­tion, a port­fo­lio company of the invest­ment compa­nies EMERAM and Rivean Capi­tal, is expan­ding its inter­na­tio­nal public sector busi­ness with the acqui­si­tion of the Swiss company Iron­f­orge Consul­ting AG. The tran­sac­tion, effec­tive Septem­ber 1, 2022, has now been successfully comple­ted. The aim is to tap into the Swiss market as well as to further deve­lop the port­fo­lio for end-to-end digi­tiza­tion solu­ti­ons. ]init[, with more than 800 employees, is conside­red one of the leading project service provi­ders in the field of digi­tal transformation.

Since Septem­ber 1, ]init[ has held 100 percent of the shares in the Swiss IT consul­tant Iron­f­orge. Iron­f­orge Consul­ting AG is an estab­lished player in the Swiss market since 2009 with 35 employees. The company’s custo­mers include a large number of Swiss fede­ral minis­tries. In addi­tion, Iron­f­orge also works for admi­nis­tra­tion-rela­ted compa­nies such as Swiss Post and Swiss­com. Among other things, Iron­f­orge has parti­ci­pa­ted in the deve­lo­p­ment of a Swiss ePor­tal for the administration.

The part­ner­ship will further streng­then Ironforge’s posi­tion in its core markets in Switz­er­land and enable it to accom­pany the Swiss admi­nis­tra­tion along the entire digi­tiza­tion process. The company is thus alig­ning itself with the conti­nuing growth in demand for holi­stic digi­tiza­tion in the public sector and is crea­ting offe­rings for the consis­tent intro­duc­tion and opti­miza­tion of front-end and back-end solutions.

The current manage­ment team of Iron­f­orge around the two mana­ging direc­tors Roberto Santo­vito and Gianni Lepore will accom­pany the further deve­lo­p­ment of the company. Both will retain a stake in the company to drive the expan­sion of Iron­f­orge toge­ther with ]init[. In return, Harald Felling, CEO of ]init[ AG, will join the board of direc­tors of Iron­f­orge AG.

Dr. Chris­tian Näther, Mana­ging Part­ner at EMERAM Capi­tal Part­ners (Photo: Emeram), comm­ents: ”]init[ is a digi­tal success story par excel­lence. With the acqui­si­tion, the company streng­thens its inter­na­tio­nal orien­ta­tion and gains an important loca­tion abroad. As a busi­ness deve­lo­p­ment part­ner, we compre­hen­si­vely support ]init[’s dyna­mic growth course. This has enab­led the company to signi­fi­cantly expand its market posi­tion in recent years. We conti­nue to see considera­ble oppor­tu­ni­ties for the future, also through further acquisitions.”

Harald Felling, CEO of ]init[ AGIron­f­orge and we share a common culture, a very simi­lar DNA and a strong focus on the public sector. We are ther­e­fore deligh­ted to be able to promote Iron­f­orge with our many years of expe­ri­ence in end-to-end digi­tiza­tion in the public sector and support it in its further growth. In this way, we want to help shape the digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion of Switzerland’s like­wise fede­rally orga­ni­zed administration.”

Gianni Lepore, foun­der and CEO of Iron­f­orge AG, adds: “With ]init[ as an expe­ri­en­ced part­ner, Iron­f­orge will conti­nue its success story with even more power. We want to signi­fi­cantly expand our depth and breadth of services in order to provide our custo­mers with even better support for IT projects and digi­ta­liza­tion projects. In this way, we want to become a central driver of user-centric digi­tiza­tion for the Swiss administration.”

The parties have agreed not to disc­lose the purchase price.

Advi­sors ]init[ : Noerr and Wenger Platt­ner (Legal) and BDO (Finan­cial)

About ]init[ — www.init.de

]init[ AG für digi­tale Kommu­ni­ka­tion is one of the leading full-service provi­ders for digi­tal projects in Germany. The company employs over 800 people (FTE) in Berlin, Bremen, Hamburg, Colo­gne, Munich and Mainz.

With fee reve­nues of over EUR 138 million, ]init[ is one of the ten fastest-growing Inter­net agen­cies accor­ding to the BVDW 2022 ranking. In the ranking of digi­tal expe­ri­ence service provi­ders by Lünen­donk & Hossen­fel­der, ]init[ ranked 13th in 2021 as a “rising star” with an impro­ve­ment. ]init[’s more than 500 custo­mers include the Press and Infor­ma­tion Office of the German Fede­ral Govern­ment as well as nume­rous fede­ral and state minis­tries, Conti­nen­tal AG, BSH Haus­ge­räte and Heidel­berg Cement.

ABOUT Iron­f­orge Consul­ting AG ‑www.ironforge.ch

Iron­f­orge Consul­ting AG is an inde­pen­dent and neutral IT consul­ting company based in Muri near Bern and a subsi­diary of the German ]init[ AG für digi­tale Kommu­ni­ka­tion since Septem­ber 2022. The Iron­f­orge manage­ment team is formed by Roberto Santo­vito (COO) and Gianni Lepore (Foun­der and CEO). They are the first point of cont­act for all matters.

In its core areas of Project Services and Busi­ness Services, Iron­f­orge supports its custo­mers from the plan­ning and concep­tion to the imple­men­ta­tion of their ICT projects. The consul­tants include expe­ri­en­ced IT project mana­gers, busi­ness analysts and poly­va­lent IT experts. In addi­tion to nume­rous Swiss fede­ral offices and various cantons, custo­mers also include admi­nis­tra­tion-rela­ted compa­nies. Iron­f­orge curr­ently employs 35 people and was foun­ded in 2009.

About EMERAM CAPITAL PARTNERS — www.emeram.com

EMERAM is one of the leading invest­ment mana­gers for medium-sized compa­nies in German-spea­king count­ries. Funds advi­sed by EMERAM provide more than €500 million in capi­tal for the deve­lo­p­ment of growth compa­nies. The port­fo­lio includes compa­nies from the Technology/Software, Value-added Services and New Consu­mer Stap­les sectors. EMERAM acts as a long-term busi­ness deve­lo­p­ment part­ner for its compa­nies and promo­tes the sustainable growth (orga­nic and inor­ga­nic) of the port­fo­lio compa­nies. In addi­tion, the focus is on the imple­men­ta­tion of holi­stic ESG concepts.

The port­fo­lio curr­ently consists of six plat­form invest­ments with a cumu­la­tive work­force of more than 2,500. The compa­nies conti­nuously achieve double-digit orga­nic sales growth. In addi­tion, a total of 30 add-on acqui­si­ti­ons to date have acce­le­ra­ted growth and enab­led inter­na­tio­nal expansion.

Verdane acquires stake in Qbtech / ADHD diagnostic software

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Stock­holm | Hous­ton — Qbtech, the soft­ware provi­der of the objec­tive ADHD tests QbTest and QbCheck, today announ­ces an invest­ment from growth-focu­sed equity inves­tor Verdane. Qbtech is the market leader in objec­tive measu­re­ment of ADHD symptoms and is trans­forming ADHD treat­ment for indi­vi­du­als and society at large. In colla­bo­ra­tion with health­care and educa­tion profes­sio­nals in the U.S. and Europe, Qbtech shor­tens time to diagno­sis and enables opti­miza­tion of treat­ment for child­ren and adults with ADHD. Verdane’s invest­ment will help Qbtech further acce­le­rate growth through new tech­no­lo­gies, new custo­mer segments and by signi­fi­cantly expan­ding in exis­ting markets.

Qbtech’s mission is to improve the lives of people with ADHD and to help more pati­ents access quality treat­ment. To achieve this, Qbtech will support pati­ents and promote new models of care that increase access to care while impro­ving clini­cal and medi­cal outco­mes. Qbtech’s current products improve the skills of profes­sio­nals through objec­tive data and trai­ning, helping to address the dual chal­lenges of work­force shorta­ges and the drama­tic increase in demand for ADHD care follo­wing the COVID pande­mic. Future products will build on this and put pati­ents at the center of their treatment.

“Verdane is an expe­ri­en­ced inves­tor in health­care soft­ware, and we look forward to working with Qbtech at this pivo­tal moment in their growth jour­ney,” said Henrik Aspén of Verdane (photo, copy­right Verdane). “Qbtech offers unique tech­no­logy that is driving the stan­dard for clini­cal vali­da­tion and advan­cing new tech­no­lo­gies at a rapid pace. Our team is impres­sed with their breakth­rough, inno­va­tive tech­no­lo­gies that improve care, reduce health­care costs and provide an amazing expe­ri­ence for pati­ents and their families.”

The invest­ment in Qbtech is made from Verdane’s Idun Fund, which is clas­si­fied as “Article 9” under the EU Finan­cial Disclo­sure Regu­la­tion. Idun makes invest­ments focu­sed on driving impact in three areas: Energy Tran­si­tion, Sustainable Consump­tion, and Resi­li­ent Commu­ni­ties. Previous invest­ments include Auntie, a digi­tal provi­der of work­place well­ness services; Spond, a digi­tal provi­der of grass­roots sports and physi­cal health; and EVA Global, a mana­ged services provi­der support­ing the global shift to elec­tric vehic­les. To date, Verdane has inves­ted in over 30 sustainable society companies.

“We are plea­sed that Verdane is confi­dent in our track record and mission to trans­form ADHD care. We have always stri­ved to import the best aspects of health­care tech­no­logy into medi­cal tech­no­logy, and Verdane’s exper­tise in tech­no­logy and soft­ware-enab­led busi­nesses will be of great value to us,” said Carl Reuter­s­ki­old, CEO of Qbtech.

About Qbtech

Foun­ded in 2002, Qbtech is a priva­tely held Swedish company that has deve­lo­ped leading solu­ti­ons and products to improve the iden­ti­fi­ca­tion, diagno­sis, treat­ment and follow-up of pati­ents with ADHD. Qbtech opera­tes in 13 count­ries and has offices in Stock­holm, Hous­ton and London. Qbtech is an award-winning company reco­gni­zed for its inno­va­tion, and was recently awarded the 2022 HSJ Part­ner­ship Award for “Best Part­ner­ship with the NHS in Mental Health. www.qbtech.com

About Verdane

Verdane is a growth capi­tal invest­ment specia­list firm that part­ners with tech­no­logy-based and sustainable Euro­pean compa­nies to help them reach the next level of inter­na­tio­nal growth. Verdane can invest as a mino­rity or majo­rity inves­tor, either in indi­vi­dual compa­nies or in port­fo­lios of compa­nies, and focu­ses on three core themes: the digi­tal consu­mer, soft­ware ever­y­where and sustainable society. The Verdane funds have a total volume of over 4 billion euros and have made over 140 invest­ments in fast-growing compa­nies since 2003. Verdane’s team consists of more than 100 invest­ment and opera­tio­nal profes­sio­nals based in Berlin, Copen­ha­gen, Helsinki, London, Oslo and Stock­holm and aims to be the prefer­red growth part­ner for tech­no­logy-enab­led and sustainable compa­nies in Europe.

CIC sells photovoltaic assets to infrastructure investors

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Regens­burg — The share­hol­ders of CIC Erneu­er­bare Ener­gien GmbH (“CIC”) of Regens­burg have sold the photo­vol­taic plants alre­ady in opera­tion to the infra­struc­ture inves­tor Blue­field Revive Italia Srl (“BRI1”) of Milan and to Solar­Ka­pi­tal GmbH (“Solar­Ka­pi­tal”) of Frank­furt am Main. The PV port­fo­lio of a total of nine systems includes one of the world’s largest carport systems. This part of the tran­sac­tion was sold to BRI1, an Italian subsi­diary of Blue­field Part­ners LLP (“Blue­field”) of London, whereas a smal­ler part of the entire port­fo­lio is connec­ted in Germany and was acqui­red by Solar­Ka­pi­tal. — MAYLAND acted as exclu­sive M&A advi­sor to CIC in this global sell side process.

CIC successfully deve­lops its own inno­va­tive capi­tal invest­ments and is an estab­lished system provi­der in the rene­wa­ble energy sector with its own sales force. In addi­tion, CIC plans, builds and opera­tes large-scale power plants in the field of rene­wa­ble ener­gies world­wide. CIC is thus constantly commit­ted to the expan­sion of rene­wa­ble ener­gies and to the deve­lo­p­ment of ecolo­gi­cally orien­ted and econo­mic­ally viable products.

Blue­field is a long-term invest­ment advi­sor with signi­fi­cant expe­ri­ence in execu­ting and finan­cing tran­sac­tions and advi­sing on rene­wa­ble energy invest­ments in Europe, with a strong presence in Italy. Blue­field is, among other things, invest­ment advi­sor to Blue­field Solar Income Fund Ltd (“BSIF”), the first UK-focu­sed solar fund listed on the London Stock Exch­ange. Blue­field has led the acqui­si­tion of more than 650 MW of solar PV assets in the UK and Europe for BSIF and other funds advi­sed by Blue­field. In 2021, Blue­field served as invest­ment advi­sor to funds and vehic­les with total assets under manage­ment of €1.2 billion.

Foun­ded in 2010, Solar­Ka­pi­tal is an invest­ment company that focu­ses exclu­si­vely on invest­ments in the solar indus­try. In doing so, Solar­Ka­pi­tal invests capi­tal and entre­pre­neur­ship in both compa­nies and PV projects. The port­fo­lio curr­ently includes PV plants in Germany, Greece and France, where Solar­Ka­pi­tal acts as asset manager/IPP.

MAYLAND acted as exclu­sive M&A advi­sor to CIC in this global sell side process and was able to draw on its long-stan­ding exper­tise in the rene­wa­ble energy sector as well as its excel­lent network of finan­cial and infra­struc­ture investors.

About MAYLAND AG

MAYLAND AG is an inde­pen­dent, owner-mana­ged global M&A and corpo­rate finance consul­tancy. We regu­larly deve­lop indi­vi­dual tran­sac­tion struc­tures for our clients for the purchase and sale of compa­nies or parts of compa­nies and arrange any finan­cing requi­red for these tran­sac­tions. In addi­tion, we assist our clients in raising equity and debt capital.

Due to nume­rous comple­ted tran­sac­tions, the MAYLAND team has exten­sive sector know­ledge in various indus­tries, which is comple­men­ted by many years of expe­ri­ence as well as a solid inter­na­tio­nal network of equity and debt inves­tors. www.mayland.de.

About Solar­Ka­pi­tal

Solar­Ka­pi­tal (“SK”), foun­ded in 2010 and based in Frank­furt am Main, is an invest­ment company focu­sed exclu­si­vely on invest­ments in the solar indus­try. SK Kapi­tal invests entre­pre­neu­rial know-how in compa­nies as well as in exis­ting and new PV projects. The port­fo­lio curr­ently includes PV plants in Germany, Greece and France, where SK acts as asset manager/IPP, as well as a 100% stake in ENcome Energy Perfor­mance GmbH (“ENcome”).

SK offers a unique combi­na­tion of inter­na­tio­nal solar, finan­cial, tran­sac­tional and manage­ment exper­tise coupled with inte­grity, relia­bi­lity and sound­ness. SK’s many years of expe­ri­ence in private equity, corpo­rate finance, mid-market and rene­wa­ble energy make it the part­ner of choice for compa­nies in the solar indus­try. https://solarkapital.com

CF Group acquires Starline Group with Crédit Mutuel Equity

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Wendlingen/ Valken­swaard (NL) — The Wend­lin­gen am Neckar-based CF Group, the second largest swim­ming pool manu­fac­tu­ring and equip­ment company in Europe, acqui­res the Dutch Star­line Group (“Star­line”). Both compa­nies announ­ced today the closing of the tran­sac­tion. CF Group thus increa­ses its sales by more than 12 percent and opens up new custo­mer segments in the Bene­lux market. In line with the contin­ued rapid and successful growth and the still very promi­sing outlook for CF Group, Crédit Mutuel Equity is inves­t­ing addi­tio­nal capi­tal in the company. Crédit Mutuel Equity is the inter­na­tio­nal direct invest­ment company of Crédit Mutuel Alli­ance Fédé­rale and has alre­ady accom­pa­nied CF Group as an active mino­rity share­hol­der since the merger with FIJA in 2019.

Based in Valken­swaard, the Nether­lands, Star­line Group has been deve­lo­ping, desig­ning, manu­fac­tu­ring and distri­bu­ting private swim­ming pools, pool covers and various pool equip­ment products since 1973, with a clear focus on the luxury segment. With eight brands, the company is mainly active in the Bene­lux count­ries and exports its products to 13 other count­ries. With more than 130 employees and five produc­tion sites in the Nether­lands, Belgium and the United King­dom, Star­line 2021 gene­ra­ted sales of nearly 50 million euros.

CF Group was formed in 2019 by the merger of two family-owned compa­nies, Chemo­form (Germany) and FIJA (France), and has posi­tio­ned itself as one of the leading compa­nies in the manu­fac­ture and distri­bu­tion of equip­ment for private and public swim­ming pools and consu­ma­bles for water treat­ment. The company is repre­sen­ted in more than 40 count­ries with 15 brands and twelve produc­tion and logi­stics sites.

With the acqui­si­tion of Star­line, CF Group is expan­ding its posi­tion on the Belgian, Dutch and British markets and streng­thening its swim­ming pool cover busi­ness in parti­cu­lar. Star­line gene­ra­tes more than half of its sales in this busi­ness area and has excel­lent product know-how and exten­sive market know­ledge in this market segment. CF Group and Star­line Group expect the tran­sac­tion to create signi­fi­cant growth oppor­tu­ni­ties in cross-selling as well as poten­tial for effi­ci­ency gains in sourcing. Star­line CEO Victor de Vries will take a stake in the tran­sac­tion in order to parti­ci­pate in its further development.

Cedrik Mayer-Klenk, CEO of Chemo­form AG, said: “With this tran­sac­tion, we are conti­nuing our successful growth stra­tegy of ente­ring new markets or addi­tio­nal distri­bu­tion chan­nels by acqui­ring comple­men­tary compa­nies or long-stan­ding coope­ra­tion part­ners. Toge­ther with Star­line, we are moving into a new order of magni­tude. The basis for this step in the company’s deve­lo­p­ment is our dyna­mic orga­nic growth over the past three years and the support of Crédit Mutuel Equity, which contri­bu­ted equity, market exper­tise and profes­sio­nal advice on M&A processes.”

Sébas­tien Neiss, Mana­ging Direc­tor of Crédit Mutuel Equity in GermanySince our invest­ment almost three years ago, CF Group has grown orga­ni­cally by around 30 percent and has signi­fi­cantly conso­li­da­ted its posi­tion in the top three swim­ming pool equip­ment suppli­ers in Europe. We are of course happy to conti­nue to accom­pany this success story and are incre­asing our invest­ment for the second time since our invest­ment in 2019 in order to use it to support projects such as the acqui­si­tion of Star­line. As an inves­tor that exclu­si­vely invests equity from our banking group, we have the oppor­tu­nity to accom­pany our port­fo­lio compa­nies for as long as we wish and to let our invest­ment grow along with the company.”

Advi­sor to the transaction:

For the CF Group
M&A: Alan­tra (Wolf­ram Schmerl, Dr. Sven Harm­sen, Lode­wijk Sodder­land, Patrick Bobak)
Funding: Alan­tra (Robert von Fincken­stein, Phil­ipp Holst)
Legal: Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek (Rainer Hersch­lein, Bene­dikt Raisch), Kullen Müller Zinser (Dr. Andreas Beyer)

For Star­line
M&A: Roth­schild & Co (Bastiaan Vaand­ra­ger, Fabien Lenoir, Pierre Scho­on­brodt, Tim Snelders)

About CF Group

CF Group is a leading Euro­pean company for swim­ming pool tech­no­logy, main­ten­ance and water treat­ment. The company was formed by the merger of Chemo­form AG, foun­ded in Wend­lin­gen (Germany) in 1962, and the FIJA Group, foun­ded in Brécé (France) in 1975. With its multi-brand port­fo­lio, CF Group covers the entire spec­trum from cons­truc­tion, equip­ment and main­ten­ance to clean­li­ness, hygiene and care of private and public pools. The group employs more than 1,000 people, opera­tes in more than 40 count­ries world­wide and gene­ra­tes sales of more than 300 million euros annu­ally. www.chemoform.com

About Crédit Mutuel Equity

Crédit Mutuel Equity bund­les the inter­na­tio­nal direct invest­ment busi­ness of the French banking group Crédit Mutuel Alli­ance Fédé­rale. The subsi­diary offers medium-sized compa­nies solu­ti­ons in all areas of equity financing.

At Crédit Mutuel Equity, 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, the company has alre­ady been successful for 40 years.

Crédit Mutuel Equity curr­ently has around 3 billion euros of equity inves­ted, and its port­fo­lio consists of around 300 compa­nies. Since 2016, the company has expan­ded its acti­vi­ties to Canada (Mont­real and Toronto), USA (New York and Boston), Germany (Frank­furt) and Switz­er­land (Geneva and Zurich). www.creditmutuel-equity.eu

About Crédit Mutuel Alli­ance Fédérale

Crédit Mutuel Alli­ance Fédé­rale is one of France’s leading banks with more than 75,000 employees serving 26.7 million custo­mers. With a network of around 4,300 bran­ches, Crédit Mutuel Alli­ance Fédé­rale offers a compre­hen­sive range of services for private custo­mers, the self-employed and compa­nies of all sizes. As one of Europe’s leading banking groups, its equity amoun­ted to EUR 53.2 billion and its CET1 ratio was 18.8% as of Decem­ber 30, 2021.

The Crédit Mutuel Alli­ance Fédé­rale is compo­sed of the Crédit Mutuel sub-asso­cia­ti­ons Centre Est Europe (Stras­bourg), Sud-Est (Lyon), Ile-de-France (Paris), Savoie-Mont Blanc (Annecy), Midi-Atlan­tique (Toulouse), Loire-Atlan­tique and Centre Ouest (Nantes), Centre (Orlé­ans), Normandy (Caen), Dauphiné-Viva­rais (Valence), Médi­ter­ra­néen (Marseille), Anjou (Angers), Massif Central (Cler­mont-Ferrand), Antil­les-Guyane (Fort-de-France) and Nord Europe (Lille).

Crédit Mutuel Alli­ance Fédé­rale also includes Caisse Fédé­rale de Crédit Mutuel, Banque Fédé­ra­tive du Crédit Mutuel (BFCM) and all its subsi­dia­ries, inclu­ding CIC, Euro-Infor­ma­tion, Assu­ran­ces du Crédit Mutuel (ACM), Targ­obank, Cofi­dis, Banque Euro­pé­enne du Crédit Mutuel (BECM), Banque de Luxem­bourg, Banque Trans­at­lan­tique and Homi­ris. www.creditmutuelalliancefederale.fr

VR Equitypartner supports growth of Sementis portfolio companies

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Frank­furt am Main / Eisen­ach — The Frank­furt-based invest­ment company VR Equi­typ­art­ner supports Semen­tis GmbH Stephan Behr Vermö­gens­ver­wal­tung with another mezza­nine financing.

As a family holding company, Semen­tis GmbH combi­nes inte­rests in QSIL SE and IBYKUS AG. Based in Thurin­gia, Germany, QSIL has been produ­cing high-perfor­mance mate­ri­als from high-purity quartz glass and tech­ni­cal cera­mics since it was foun­ded in 1992. The group of compa­nies with produc­tion sites in Germany and the Nether­lands employs around 700 people and has estab­lished itself in recent years as one of the world market leaders in its sector. Foun­ded in 1990, IBYKUS AG, based in Erfurt, Germany, specia­li­zes in IT services in the field of public admi­nis­tra­tion and offers e‑government solu­ti­ons for the admi­nis­tra­tion of subsi­dies at the muni­ci­pal, natio­nal and Euro­pean levels. In addi­tion, its range of services includes inno­va­tive solu­ti­ons for busi­ness process opti­miza­tion based on SAP as well as in-house deve­lo­ped enter­prise soft­ware. Around 200 employees work at six loca­ti­ons in Germany.

Stephan Behr welco­mes the further coope­ra­tion: “With VR Equi­typ­art­ner, we once again have the relia­ble support of a long-stan­ding and expe­ri­en­ced part­ner. In addi­tion to asset real­lo­ca­tion, the new, addi­tio­nal mezza­nine finan­cing prima­rily serves to open up further growth areas for both QSIL and IBYKUS and to drive forward expan­sion efforts.”

Chris­tian Futter­lieb (photo), Mana­ging Direc­tor of VR Equi­typ­art­ner, added: “Semen­tis, with its attrac­tive invest­ments in high-growth tech­no­lo­gies and markets, is a long-stan­ding and very trus­ted part­ner. We look forward to conti­nuing down this path together.”

About VR Equi­typ­art­ner GmbH

VR Equi­typ­art­ner is one of the leading equity finan­ciers in Germany, Austria and Switz­er­land. The company supports medium-sized family busi­nesses in a goal-orien­ted manner and with deca­des of expe­ri­ence in the stra­te­gic solu­tion of complex finan­cing issues. Invest­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties include growth and expan­sion finan­cing, corpo­rate succes­sion or share­hol­der chan­ges. VR Equi­typ­art­ner offers majo­rity and mino­rity invest­ments as well as mezza­nine finan­cing. As a subsi­diary of DZ BANK, the central insti­tu­tion of the coope­ra­tive banks in Germany, VR Equi­typ­art­ner consis­t­ently puts the sustaina­bi­lity of corpo­rate deve­lo­p­ment ahead of short-term exit thin­king. VR Equitypartner’s port­fo­lio curr­ently compri­ses around 60 commit­ments with an invest­ment volume of EUR 400 million. www.vrep.de.

The tran­sac­tion team at VR Equitypartner:
Chris­tian Ocken­fuß, Patrick Heinze, Dr. Clau­dia Willershausen

Consul­ting firms invol­ved in the tran­sac­tion by VR Equitypartner:

Contract draf­ting and due dili­gence Semen­tis: Flick Gocke Schaum­burg with Dr. Irka Zöll­ter, Dr. Florian Kutt, Larissa Rickli (Tax), Daniel Ternes (Commer­cial).

Due Dili­gence QSIL (Commer­cial): Codex Part­ners with Clemens Beick­ler, Stijn Proost

Due Dili­gence QSIL (Finan­cial, Tax and Legal): tmitAlex­an­der Gerde­nit­sch, Patrick Gageur, Dr. Maxi­mi­lian Menges

Exit: ADCURAM sells WOUNDWO sunlight design to SFPI Group

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Munich — The Munich-based indus­trial holding ADCURAM Group has sold its stake in the WOUNDWO Group, based in Graz, Austria. The acqui­rer is the Paris-based listed indus­trial group SFPI Group. ADCURAM has accom­pa­nied WOUNDWO inten­si­vely over the past years, repo­si­tio­ned it and successfully deve­lo­ped it further. Toge­ther with the manage­ment, the turno­ver could be increased by more than 50% during this time and the inno­va­tive strength could be signi­fi­cantly streng­the­ned. The tran­sac­tion, the details of which have been agreed not to be disc­lo­sed, is still subject to appr­oval by the rele­vant anti­trust autho­ri­ties and is expec­ted to be comple­ted by the end of July.

WOUNDWO was foun­ded in 1952 as a trading company in Graz, Austria, and is today a renow­ned quality supplier of sun protec­tion solu­ti­ons with 60 million euros in sales and around 310 employees. WOUNDWO holds a market-leading posi­tion in Austria and is also active in France, Germany and Switz­er­land as well as other count­ries. The product port­fo­lio of the tradi­tio­nal company includes awnings, exter­nal vene­tian blinds, roller shut­ters, insect screen products and inte­rior privacy and sun protec­tion systems. As an inter­na­tio­nal supplier of high-quality products ‘made in Austria’, WOUNDWO addres­ses the current mega­trends of outdoor living, sustaina­bi­lity and energy effi­ci­ency in the growth market of sun protection.

ADCURAM acqui­red WOUNDWO at the end of 2015. Since then, a stra­tegy for inter­na­tio­na­liza­tion has been imple­men­ted with a focus on markets borde­ring Austria. At the same time, WOUNDWO’s exper­tise in textile shad­ing systems was further expan­ded and ancho­red in the market. With the estab­lish­ment of an expe­ri­en­ced, powerful manage­ment team, it was possi­ble to conti­nuously imple­ment process opti­miza­ti­ons and conso­li­date produc­tion at three produc­tion sites in Austria and the Czech Repu­blic. Further deve­lo­p­ment steps in terms of product port­fo­lio and addi­tio­nal inter­na­tio­nal growth are also planned.

“As a market-leading company in Austria, espe­ci­ally in the area of awnings, WOUNDWO was alre­ady excel­lently posi­tio­ned at the time of our invest­ment in 2015. Toge­ther with the manage­ment, we have succee­ded in setting up the company for sustainable success inter­na­tio­nally as well. Our opera­tio­nal support has crea­ted the condi­ti­ons for further growth,” explains ADCURAM part­ner Dr. Phil­ipp Gusinde (photo © ADCURAM). Jochen Engelke, member of the advi­sory board of WOUNDWO, adds: “WOUNDWO is an agile, inno­va­tive company with a strong team. We are very happy to have found a part­ner in the SFPI Group that is as entre­pre­neu­rial as it is inno­va­tive and has a lot of expe­ri­ence in the sun protec­tion sector. We wish our colle­agues at WOUNDWO all the best on their contin­ued growth path.”

“Over the past years, ADCURAM has posi­tio­ned WOUNDWO as a major player in the Austrian sun protec­tion market with high commit­ment, detailed busi­ness under­stan­ding and stra­te­gic skills. This has been a great time for the company and for us as mana­ging direc­tors. Now we are looking forward to deve­lo­ping WOUNDWO into the next phase of the company with the SFPI Group as a strong, stra­te­gic inves­tor,” explain Alex­an­der Foki and Wolf­gang Kuss, mana­ging direc­tors of WOUNDWO.

About ADCURAM

ADCURAM is a priva­tely owned indus­trial group. ADCURAM acqui­res compa­nies with poten­tial and deve­lops them actively and sustain­ably. For the future growth of the Group, the capi­tal-strong indus­trial holding company has a total of 300 million euros available for acqui­si­ti­ons. With the help of its own 40-strong team of experts, the indus­trial holding company conti­nues to deve­lop the port­fo­lio compa­nies stra­te­gi­cally and opera­tio­nally. Toge­ther, the Group gene­ra­tes sales of around 730 million euros world­wide with nine holdings and more than 4,500 employees.

ADCURAM sees itself as an entre­pre­neu­rial inves­tor and invests in succes­sion plans and corpo­rate spin-offs. www.adcuram.de

Riverside acquires Norwegian electricity market information provider

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Munich, Germany — The River­side Company, a global private equity inves­tor focu­sed on the lower middle market, has signed a defi­ni­tive agree­ment to acquire a majo­rity stake in Montel AS (Montel), a Norwe­gian energy and power market infor­ma­tion provi­der owned by its foun­der and manager.

Montel, head­quar­te­red in Oslo, is an inter­na­tio­nal niche market leader provi­ding energy and power market infor­ma­tion to energy produ­cers, grid opera­tors, finan­cial insti­tu­ti­ons, trading compa­nies and indus­trial end users. The company’s services are prima­rily deli­vered through its proprie­tary Montel Online subscrip­tion-based plat­form and include energy market news and real-time and histo­ri­cal trading data.

Montel provi­des full-service energy infor­ma­tion services and is the only focu­sed provi­der of energy market infor­ma­tion services.

“This acqui­si­tion fits well with our invest­ment stra­tegy. “Montel is a true ’small market leader’ in the energy infor­ma­tion market and we believe the company is perfectly posi­tio­ned to bene­fit from the shift from fossil fuels to rene­wa­ble energy sources in many parts of the economy,” said Kars­ten Langer, Mana­ging Part­ner of River­side Europe. “We are plea­sed to invest along­side the foun­der and manage­ment team, who will remain with the company and conti­nue to play an important role in the company’s growth in the years to come.”

River­side will support Montel’s growth by scaling the orga­niza­tion to further gain share in a growing market, deve­lo­ping new products and services, and driving geogra­phic expan­sion. In addi­tion, the Group will make selec­tive acqui­si­ti­ons to expand its range of analy­ti­cal services.

Montel’s acti­vi­ties are highly aligned with various ESG aspects and the UN Sustainable Deve­lo­p­ment Goals, as its services help compa­nies gain a better under­stan­ding of their energy consump­tion so they can take action to reduce the causes of climate change in the longer term and enable a smooth tran­si­tion to rene­wa­ble energy consumption.

“We are exci­ted to part­ner with River­side in Montel’s next phase of growth,” said Tom Nyblin, CEO of Montel. “In gene­ral, the demand for infor­ma­tion services and analy­sis for the elec­tri­city market is expec­ted to increase shar­ply in the future. By joining forces with River­side, Montel is in a strong posi­tion to capi­ta­lize on these trends.”

Working with Langer on the tran­sac­tion for River­side were Senior Part­ner Dr. Michael Weber, Vice Presi­dent Dan Parksjö, Senior Direc­tor Jeroen Lens­sen, Opera­ting Part­ner Julian Heer­de­gen and Senior Legal Coun­sel Peter Parmen­tier. Prin­ci­pal, Origi­na­tion, Ali Al Alaf broke­red the tran­sac­tion for River­side. — The closing of the tran­sac­tion is subject to custo­mary regu­la­tory approvals.

Consul­tant Riverside:

BAHR, Allen & Overy, Hannes Snell­man Bain & Company, PWC, Deloitte and Code & Co. advi­sed, while the company and its share­hol­ders were advi­sed by Alpha Corpo­rate Finance, Wiers­holm and BDO.

The River­side Company

The River­side Company is a global private equity firm focu­sed on invest­ments in middle-market growth compa­nies valued at up to $400 million. Since its foun­ding in 1988, River­side has made over 870 invest­ments. Riverside’s inter­na­tio­nal private equity and struc­tu­red capi­tal port­fo­lios include over 130 compa­nies. River­side Europe is an inte­gral part of the company’s global network and has been inves­t­ing in Europe since 1989. River­side belie­ves this global presence provi­des excep­tio­nal insight into local condi­ti­ons, culture and busi­ness prac­ti­ces, making the River­side team better inves­tors and busi­ness partners.

AUCTUS acquires laboratory equipment specialist a1-envirosciences

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Munich — The private equity inves­tor AUCTUS has acqui­red the a1-envi­ro­sci­en­ces Group, which includes a1-envi­ro­sci­en­ces GmbH of Düssel­dorf and a1-envi­ro­sci­en­ces Ltd. of Warring­ton (UK). The seller was the British company Diploma plc. AUCTUS acqui­res a1 Group to support its contin­ued orga­nic growth by, among other things, adding new product lines and ente­ring addi­tio­nal geogra­phic areas. In addi­tion, growth is also to be acce­le­ra­ted through acqui­si­ti­ons of further labo­ra­tory supply specia­lists by way of a Europe-wide buy-and-build concept.

a1-envi­ro­sci­en­ces is a respec­ted specia­list in medi­cal test­ing and analy­sis tech­no­logy, as well as quaran­tine tech­no­logy for medi­cal labo­ra­to­ries. a1 has loca­ti­ons in Germany, Great Britain, France, Belgium and the Nether­lands. In this context, a1’s busi­ness model includes consul­ting, sales, user trai­ning and main­ten­ance of sold systems in order to provide a compre­hen­sive service.

AUCTUS is a Munich-based invest­ment company. With a fund capi­tal under manage­ment of more than EUR 800 million and curr­ently 47 plat­form compa­nies from various indus­tries, AUCTUS is one of the leading inves­tors in the German small- and mid-cap sector. The port­fo­lio curr­ently conta­ins 47 plat­form compa­nies from various indus­tries in and outside Europe.

Diploma plc is an inter­na­tio­nally active group of compa­nies with a focus on the life scien­ces, seals and controls sectors.

Advi­sors to AUCTUS Capi­tal Part­ners AG: Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek:

Boris Dürr (Lead Part­ner, Corpo­rate Law / M&A), Munich
Marcel Greu­bel (Corpo­rate Law, M&A), Munich
Peter Michael Schäff­ler (Tax Law), Munich
Chris­tian Schild (Corpo­rate Law, M&A), Munich
Andreas Schruff (Corpo­rate Law, M&A), Munich
Dr. Markus Rabe (Banking & Finance), Munich
Dr. Henrik Lay (Tax Law), Hamburg
Dr. Sarah Slavik-Schulz (Tax Law), Hamburg
Sandra Pfis­ter (Banking & Finance), Hamburg
Andreas Wien­cke (Banking & Finance), Frankfurt

Advi­sor Diploma plc: Simmons & Simmons

Dr Stephan Ulrich (Lead/Client Part­ner, Corporate/M&A, Dusseldorf)
Slaven Kova­ce­vic (Lead/Counsel, Private Equity/M&A, Dusseldorf)
Sabine Krause (Super­vi­sing Asso­ciate, Private Equity/M&A, Dusseldorf)
Sam Bert­ling (Asso­ciate, Corporate/M&A, Dusseldorf)
Dr Bernulph von Crails­heim (Part­ner, Tax, Frankfurt)
Elmar Weinand (Coun­sel, Tax, Frankfurt)
Dr Jens Gölz (Part­ner, Finan­cial Markets, Frankfurt)
Peter Louzen­sky (Super­vi­sing Asso­ciate, Finan­cial Markets, Munich)
Dr Martin Gramsch (Coun­sel, Anti­trust, Munich)
Edward Baker (Part­ner, Private Equity/M&A UK, London)
Char­lotte Moor­house (Asso­ciate, Private Equity/M&A UK, London)

Oakley Capital and co-shareholders sell Contabo to KKR

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Munich — Oakley Capi­tal Fund IV and other co-share­hol­ders have sold their shares in Cont­abo to KKR. Cont­abo is a fast-growing cloud infra­struc­ture and hosting provi­der based in Munich, Germany, offe­ring simple, easy-to-use cloud services to small busi­nesses, deve­lo­pers, prosumers and gamers. With a global network of 24 data centers on four conti­nents, Cont­abo serves a diverse mix of more than 250,000 custo­mers across a wide range of indus­tries. Kirk­land & Ellis advi­sed Oakley Capi­tal Fund IV and other co-share­hol­ders on the sale of Cont­abo to KKR.

The exit will gene­rate a gross return in excess of 10x MM and over 100% IRR to Fund IV. As part of the tran­sac­tion, Oakley Capi­tal Fund V (“Fund V”) will acquire a mino­rity stake in Cont­abo along­side majo­rity inves­tor KKR, to bene­fit from the anti­ci­pa­ted future growth of the busi­ness. t

Advi­sors to Oakley Capi­tal Fund IV and other co-share­hol­ders: Kirk­land & Ellis, Munich

Dr. Benja­min Leyen­de­cker (photo), Dr. David Huth­ma­cher, Dr. Chris­toph Jerger (all lead, all Private Equity/M&A), Dr. Anna Schwan­der (Corpo­rate), Dr. Thomas S. Wilson (Anti­trust & Compe­ti­tion, Brussels); Asso­cia­tes: Dr. Thomas Diek­mann, Dr. Marcus Comman­deur, Lukas Fell­höl­ter, Juliane Hubert, Dr. Tamara Zehen­t­bauer (all Private Equity/M&A)

Advi­sors to Oakley Capi­tal Fund V: Kirk­land & Ellis, London

Jacob Traff, David Higgins (both lead); Asso­ciate: Kars­ten Silber­na­gel (all Private Equity/M&A)

About Kirk­land & Ellis
With more than 3,000 lawy­ers in 19 offices world­wide, Kirk­land & Ellis is one of the leading inter­na­tio­nal commer­cial law firms. The Munich team provi­des focu­sed advice in the areas of private equity, M&A, corpo­rate, capi­tal markets, restruc­tu­ring, finan­cing and tax law.

Exit for LEA Partners: Sale of wood CAD/CAM market leader SEMA to Bregal

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Karlsruhe/ Munich — German tech­no­logy inves­tor LEA Part­ners and Danish IT inves­tor VIA equity announ­ced today that they are selling a majo­rity stake in SEMA, the leading Euro­pean CAD/CAM soft­ware solu­tion in the field of timber cons­truc­tion and prefa­bri­ca­ted buil­dings, to Bregal Unter­neh­mer­ka­pi­tal. Details of the tran­sac­tion were not disclosed.

SEMA, foun­ded in 1984, provi­des join­ery and prefa­bri­ca­ted cons­truc­tion compa­nies with solu­ti­ons cove­ring all acti­vi­ties rela­ted to wood and stair cons­truc­tion. On a uniform, easy-to-use program inter­face, the soft­ware offers appli­ca­ti­ons such as 2D/3D CAD plan­ning and design, photo-reali­stic visua­liza­tion, quota­tion calcu­la­tion and crea­tion, as well as produc­tion plans and working drawings. In Germany, Austria, France, Italy and Switz­er­land, SEMA has a signi­fi­cant market share and a remar­kable active custo­mer base of more than 10,500 join­ery and prefa­bri­ca­ted cons­truc­tion companies.

VIA equity and LEA Part­ners had acqui­red the majo­rity stake in SEMA in 2019 and have since supported the company in its mission to expand market leader­ship and achieve opera­tio­nal excel­lence. Under the new owners and thanks to its proven product and excel­lent custo­mer rela­ti­onships, SEMA had achie­ved signi­fi­cant sales and profit growth. As part of its invest­ment stra­tegy, SEMA broa­dened its leader­ship team, inves­ted in its tech­no­logy plat­form, acqui­red an ERP/CRM soft­ware company, and imple­men­ted seve­ral pricing and product bundle initiatives.

Alex­an­der Neuss, CEO of SEMA: “Our colla­bo­ra­tion with VIA and LEA over the past three years has really helped us to realize our full poten­tial. Our inves­tors’ exten­sive expe­ri­ence in the soft­ware market combi­ned with deep busi­ness exper­tise has been a perfect stra­te­gic fit, enab­ling us to acce­le­rate our growth and conti­nue to deli­ver indus­try-leading services and inno­va­tion to our custo­mers. I am extre­mely grateful for the colla­bo­ra­tion and now look forward to conti­nuing on our growth path and expan­ding into addi­tio­nal markets internationally.”

Chris­tian Roth (photo, © LEA Part­ners), Mana­ging Part­ner at LEA Part­ners: “We are very proud to have played a role in SEMA’s growth story over the last few years. During our colla­bo­ra­tion, the SEMA team did an outstan­ding job and made the company a true soft­ware cham­pion in its indus­try. Our team has thoroughly enjoyed helping Alex­an­der and manage­ment drive stra­tegy and growth, and we are confi­dent that their dedi­ca­tion and drive will enable them to achieve many succes­ses in the future.”

VIA equity and LEA Part­ners were advi­sed by Houli­han Lokey, Noerr and Milbank on this transaction.

About LEA Partners

With curr­ently EUR 460 million in commit­ments, LEA Part­ners, as an entre­pre­neu­rial equity part­ner, supports foun­ders and manage­ment teams at diffe­rent stages of deve­lo­p­ment in their growth and achie­ve­ment of a leading market posi­tion. Based in Karls­ruhe, one of the largest tech­no­logy clus­ters in Europe, LEA has mana­ged invest­ments in nume­rous tech­no­logy compa­nies since 2002. www.leapartners.de.

Partners Group: USD 8.5 billion for third direct infrastructure program

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Baar-Zug, Switz­er­land — Part­ners Group, a leading global mana­ger of private market assets, has recei­ved a total of USD 8.5 billion from its clients for its third direct infra­struc­ture program. The program is based on Part­ners Group’s third direct infra­struc­ture fund, which recei­ved $6.4 billion in new capi­tal commit­ments. In addi­tion, commit­ments of $2.1 billion were made from other private market programs and custo­mi­zed client solu­ti­ons that will invest in paral­lel with the program.

Juri Jenk­ner, Part­ner, Head Private Infra­struc­ture, says: “We are grateful for the contin­ued trust our clients have placed in our trans­for­ma­tive invest­ment stra­tegy. We believe our thema­tic invest­ment approach and plat­form expan­sion capa­bi­li­ties uniquely posi­tion us to build a port­fo­lio of next-gene­ra­tion infra­struc­ture projects for our clients.”

The comple­tion of the fund­rai­sing follows an intense period of invest­ment acti­vity for Part­ners Group. In 2021, a total of $5.4 billion was inves­ted in infra­struc­ture assets and compa­nies that reflect Part­ners Group’s thema­tic invest­ment philo­so­phy. These include: EOLO, Italy’s leading fixed wire­less broad­band access provi­der; GREN, one of the largest district heating plat­forms in the Baltic States; Unity Digi­tal, a wire­less tele­com­mu­ni­ca­ti­ons infra­struc­ture plat­form in the Phil­ip­pi­nes; Dimen­sion Rene­wa­ble Energy, a distri­bu­ted energy plat­form focu­sed on commu­nity solar and battery storage in the U.S.; Resi­li­ent, a distri­bu­ted water infra­struc­ture plat­form in the U.S. and Canada; and North Star, a Euro­pean opera­tor of specia­li­zed vessels for offshore wind maintenance.

The rema­in­der of the program will invest on behalf of inves­tors globally and will focus on infra­struc­ture in stra­te­gic thema­tic areas rela­ted to the over­ar­ching Giga themes of Digi­ta­liza­tion & Auto­ma­tion, New Living and Decar­bo­niza­tion & Sustaina­bi­lity. In doing so, Part­ners Group pursues a plat­form expan­sion stra­tegy that targets compa­nies or assets in infra­struc­ture sub-sectors that are show­ing above-average growth due to trans­for­ma­tive trends.

Part of the program is inves­ted in next-gene­ra­tion infra­struc­ture that contri­bu­tes to impro­ved sustaina­bi­lity and supports the UN Sustainable Deve­lo­p­ment Goals. Ther­e­fore, clean energy, water treat­ment and reuse, and data centers powered by rene­wa­ble energy are among Part­ners Group’s thema­tic focus areas. Once inves­ted, the ESG & Sustaina­bi­lity team works hand-in-hand with the invest­ment teams to deve­lop ESG-focu­sed value crea­tion initia­ti­ves for each invest­ment project.

Esther Peiner, Mana­ging Direc­tor, Private Infra­struc­ture Europe, comm­ents: “We strive to gene­rate sustainable returns for our inves­tors while crea­ting a posi­tive impact for our wider stake­hol­ders. Our approach consists of thema­tic invest­ments combi­ned with prac­ti­cal, plat­form-based value crea­tion stra­te­gies. They aim to deve­lop next-gene­ra­tion infra­struc­ture and gene­rate returns that are protec­ted from econo­mic insta­bi­lity. Given the uncer­tainty caused by the pande­mic and the infla­tion concerns that still exist, this approach is more rele­vant than ever.”

Inves­tors in Part­ners Group’s third direct infra­struc­ture program include both new and exis­ting clients, inclu­ding public and corpo­rate pension funds, sove­reign wealth funds, insu­rance compa­nies, endow­ment funds and foun­da­ti­ons. Appro­xi­m­ately one-third of the capi­tal commit­ments came from outside Part­ners Group’s Euro­pean home market, reflec­ting growing inves­tor demand for globally diver­si­fied and thema­ti­cally focu­sed infra­struc­ture port­fo­lios. Part­ners Group’s foun­ders, part­ners and other employees have also inves­ted signi­fi­cantly in the program.

Vitto­rio Laca­gnina, Mana­ging Direc­tor, Client Solu­ti­ons, concludes, “The successful comple­tion of the fund­rai­sing reflects the solid perfor­mance of our trans­for­ma­tive invest­ment stra­tegy and resi­li­ence of the port­fo­lio, which we have demons­tra­ted in the face of a protra­c­ted pande­mic and rising infla­tion. The program bene­fits from a sizable seed port­fo­lio charac­te­ri­zed by strong invest­ment acti­vity, poten­ti­ally miti­ga­ting the J‑curve. The program was laun­ched in a market envi­ron­ment where acce­le­ra­ting beha­vi­oral and struc­tu­ral chan­ges are crea­ting compel­ling oppor­tu­ni­ties for insti­tu­tio­nal investors.”

Part­ners Group’s previous flag­ship direct infra­struc­ture fund curr­ently has a net IRR of 15.5% and a net TVPI of 1.51x (fund closed in 2018; perfor­mance as of Septem­ber 30, 2021. Past perfor­mance is not indi­ca­tive of future results. There can be no assu­rance that simi­lar results will be achie­ved in the future. Values are for illus­tra­tive purpo­ses only).

Willkie advises Bregal Milestone on Series C investment in Uberall

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Berlin / Frank­furt a. Main — Will­kie Farr & Gallag­her LLP has advi­sed Bregal Mile­stone as lead inves­tor on its USD 115 million Series C growth invest­ment in Uber­all. The current inves­tor United Inter­net and the manage­ment also parti­ci­pate in the round. Previous inves­tors in Uber­all include HPE Growth and Project A.

The tran­sac­tion is Bregal Milestone’s tenth invest­ment and the first tran­sac­tion in Germany. Uber­all offers a leading full-suite SaaS loca­tion marke­ting and analy­tics plat­form that helps brands and busi­nesses with every step of the “Near Me” jour­ney: from finding and selec­ting online, to gene­ra­ting offline sales, to gathe­ring and mana­ging online feed­back, to recommending.

Uber­all is relied upon by thou­sands of custo­mers, inclu­ding more than 600 major global compa­nies in Europe, North America and Asia, both in direct sales and through its exten­sive global network of chan­nel part­ners. Since long­time friends David Feder­hen and Florian Hübner foun­ded the company in Berlin in 2013, Uber­all has grown into an inter­na­tio­nal market leader with offices in 6 count­ries and a global team of 300 employees.

The company successfully grew its ARR between FY17-20 at a CAGR of 60%. The invest­ment will allow to drive product inno­va­tion the growth stra­tegy, with parti­cu­lar focus on further conso­li­da­ting its leader­ship posi­tion in Europe and acce­le­rate global expan­sion. Will­kie advi­sed on all aspects of the tran­sac­tion, KNPZ Rechts­an­wälte advi­sed on IP issues.

Advi­sors to Bregal Mile­stone : Will­kie Farr & Gallag­her LLP
The Will­kie team was led by part­ner Dr. Matthias Schudlo (Corpo­rate) and Miriam Steets, photo (Coun­sel, Corpo­rate, both Frank­furt) and included part­ner Georg Linde (Corpo­rate, Frank­furt), coun­sel Wulf Kring (Tax) and Matthias Töke (Finance, both Frank­furt) and asso­cia­tes Dr.Erik Göretz­leh­ner and Ilie Manole (both Corpo­rate), Dr. Nadine Kramer and Martin Waśkow­ski (both Labor Law) and Philip Thür­mer (Real Estate, all Frankfurt).

KNPZ Rechts­an­wälte advi­sed on IP issues:
The KNPZ team included part­ner Dr. Kai-Uwe Plath and asso­cia­tes Jan Schä­fer, Matthias Struck, Niko­laus Schmidt-Hamkens and Dr. Enno ter Haze­borg (all Hamburg).

About Will­kie Farr & Gallag­her LLP
Will­kie Farr & Gallag­her LLP is an inter­na­tio­nal law firm of more than 850 lawy­ers with offices in New York, Washing­ton, Hous­ton, Palo Alto, San Fran­cisco, Chicago, Paris, London, Frank­furt, Brussels, Milan and Rome.

 

Stock market debut for About You: Otto Group subsidiary valued at € 3.9 billion

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Hamburg/ Frank­furt a. M. — About You cele­bra­tes its debut on the Frank­furt Stock Exch­ange today, Wednes­day, June 16. The offer price for the private place­ment is set at 23.00 euros per share. CEO Tarek Müller holds a share of 4.3 percent, Sebas­tian Betz 3.7 percent and Hannes Wiese 2.7 percent.

The offer price for the private place­ment is 23.00 euros per share. The Otto Group subsi­diary is thus valued at 3.9 billion euros.

Accor­ding to Textil­wirt­schaft, the foun­ders hold the follo­wing shares: Tarek Müller has a share of 4.3 percent, Sebas­tian Betz 3.7 percent. Hannes Wiese has 2.7 percent. Howe­ver, the trio intends to sell just under 3.3 million shares, which will bring them a total of 76 million euros. After the private place­ment, Müller, Betz and Wiese will have stakes of 3.0 percent, 2.6 percent and 1.7 percent respectively.

Net, 627 million euros remain. — In addi­tion, from the holdings of the exis­ting owners GFH (Gesell­schaft für Handels­be­tei­li­gun­gen mbH), Seven­Ven­tures GmbH, GMPVC German Media Pool GmbH and Fashion Media Pool GmbH, up to 4.8 million ordi­nary bearer shares will be gran­ted as an option to cover over-allot­ments (green­shoe option).

The IPO will gene­rate gross proceeds of 657 million euros for About You. Net, 627 million euros remain. The company plans to spend 150 million euros on inter­na­tio­nal expan­sion, 115 million euros on tech­no­lo­gi­cal infra­struc­ture and 50 million euros on the further deve­lo­p­ment of its B2B tech­no­logy divi­sion. 80 million euros is to be used to repay share­hol­der loans. About You is also conside­ring acqui­si­ti­ons. 80 million euros is reco­gni­zed as a reserve for M&A transactions.

Tarek Müller, Co-Foun­der and Board Member Marke­ting & Brand: “Today is a great day for About You. Toge­ther with some of the world’s most renow­ned brands and compa­nies, we are now part of the exch­ange family. Today we cele­brate the successful listing of About You, but our focus is alre­ady fully on the future.”

In addi­tion to Deut­sche Bank, Gold­man Sachs and JPMor­gan , Numis Secu­ri­ties, Société Géné­rale and UBS also supported the IPO.

Weil advises INVEN CAPITAL on EUR 38 million investment in tado°

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Frank­furt a. Main — The Frank­furt office of the inter­na­tio­nal law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP advi­sed Inven Capi­tal SICAV, a.s. (“INVEN CAPITAL”) on its invest­ment in tado GmbH (“tado°”). In addi­tion to new inves­tor noven­tic group, exis­ting inves­tors such as INVEN CAPITAL, Amazon, Target Part­ners, Eon and Total also parti­ci­pa­ted in the 38 million euro finan­cing round.

Munich-basedtado° is the Euro­pean market leader for intel­li­gent indoor climate manage­ment and was foun­ded in 2011. In the mean­time, tado° employs 180 people.

INVEN CAPITAL is the venture capi­tal arm of the ČEZ Group, whose invest­ment focus is on invest­ments in clean-tech and new-energy companies.

Weil’s Frank­furt office regu­larly advi­ses INVEN on its invest­ments, such as its recent invest­ment in the logi­stics start-up Forto GmbH, finan­cing rounds at Zolar GmbH, the sale of its stake in the home battery storage provi­der sonnen to Shell Over­seas Invest­ment B.V. and its invest­ment in the start-up Cloud&Heat Tech­no­lo­gies GmbH, as well as the latest finan­cing round at Sunfire GmbH.

The Weil tran­sac­tion team was led by Frank­furt-based Corpo­rate Part­ner Dr. Chris­tian Tapp­ei­ner. He was supported by Coun­sel Julian Schwa­ne­beck and Para­le­gal Nata­scha Späth (both Corporate).

Weil, Gotshal & Manges is an inter­na­tio­nal law firm with more than 1,100 lawy­ers, inclu­ding appro­xi­m­ately 300 part­ners. Weil is head­quar­te­red in New York and has offices in Boston, Dallas, Frank­furt, Hong Kong, Hous­ton, London, Miami, Munich, Paris, Beijing, Prince­ton, Shang­hai, Sili­con Valley and Washing­ton, D.C.

Mutares acquires three German Exteriors plants from Magna

Posted on by Tatjana Anderer

Munich — Auto­mo­tive supplier Magna has signed an agree­ment with listed invest­ment company Muta­res SE & Co. KGaA (Muta­res) to sell three German Exte­ri­ors plants. The acqui­si­tion compri­ses Magna’s three sites in Oberts­hau­sen, Sulz­bach and Idar-Ober­stein as well as the two satel­lite sites in Neckar­sulm and Klein-Krot­zen­burg with a total of 1,700 employees and sales of appro­xi­m­ately EUR 360 million.

The plants produce plas­tic compon­ents such as bumper and exte­rior trim, radia­tor gril­les and other trim compon­ents for leading OEMs in the premium segment and gene­rate sales of appro­xi­m­ately EUR 360 million. The tran­sac­tion is expec­ted to close in the third quar­ter of 2021. The business’s main custo­mers include well-known German auto­ma­kers. The three plants have exten­sive design know-how and tech­ni­cally mature in-house deve­lo­p­ment capabilities.

Advi­sor Magna: Henge­ler Mueller

The part­ners Dr. Daniel Wiegand (Munich), Dr. Peter Weyland (Frank­furt) (both lead, M&A), Dr. Chris­tian Hoefs (Labor Law, Frank­furt), Prof. Dr. Dirk Uwer (Public Commer­cial Law, Düssel­dorf), Dr. Johan­nes Tieves (Finan­cing, Frank­furt) and Dr. Matthias Schei­fele (Tax, Munich), the Coun­sel Patrick Wilke­ning (Intellec­tual Property/IT) and Dr. Moritz Rade­ma­cher (Public Commer­cial Law) (both Düssel­dorf) and the Asso­cia­tes Dr. Achim Speng­ler, Dr. Florian Dendl, Dr. David Negen­born (all Munich), Dr. Nicho­las Kubesch (Frank­furt) (all M&A), Dr. Cars­ten Bormann (Düssel­dorf), Simone Terbrack (Berlin) (both Public Commer­cial Law), Dr. Sarah Milde (Anti­trust), Dr. Daniel Engel (Dispute Reso­lu­tion) (both Munich), Dr. Henning Hilke (Finan­cing), Dr. Sebas­tian Hein­richs (Tax) and Dr. Andreas Kaletsch (Labor Law) (all Frankfurt).

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