VREP sells stake in Zimmer & Hälbig to the VINCI Group

Frank­furt am Main — The Fran­k­­furt-based invest­ment company VR Equi­typ­art­ner (“VREP”) has sold its signi­fi­cant mino­rity stake in Zimmer & Hälbig Holding (“Zimmer & Hälbig”), a leading specia­list for refri­ge­ra­tion, air condi­tio­ning and venti­la­tion tech­no­logy. The buyer of the shares is VINCI Ener­gies, part of VINCI, one of the worl­d’s leading groups for cons­truc­tion, cons­­truc­­tion-rela­­ted services and concessions. 

Zimmer & Hälbig, based in Biele­feld, West­pha­lia, is one of Germany’s leading provi­ders in the plan­ning, instal­la­tion and main­ten­ance of refri­ge­ra­tion, air condi­tio­ning and venti­la­tion tech­no­logy and tech­ni­cal buil­ding services in non-resi­­den­­tial buil­dings. The company provi­des the tech­ni­cal know-how for project plan­ning (consul­ting, tech­no­logy selec­tion, cons­truc­tion plan­ning) and instal­la­tion of logi­sti­cally and tech­ni­cally sophisti­ca­ted refri­ge­ra­tion, air condi­tio­ning and venti­la­tion systems. The focus is on sustainable energy solu­ti­ons for complex buil­dings. Zimmer & Hälbig prima­rily serves fast-growing and non-cycli­­cal indus­tries such as clean­rooms, data centers, health­care and the public sector and is charac­te­ri­zed by a decen­tra­li­zed struc­ture with seve­ral loca­ti­ons in Germany. 

VREP joined Zimmer & Hälbig, which now has over 320 employees, in 2022 as part of a manage­ment buy-out and supported the manage­ment in the consis­tent imple­men­ta­tion of the active orga­nic and inor­ga­nic growth stra­tegy. This included the expan­sion to curr­ently seven loca­ti­ons and nine service centers, the expan­sion of the value chain through the estab­lish­ment of the new measu­re­ment and control tech­no­logy divi­sion and the acqui­si­tion of the service and main­ten­ance specia­list Airtech GmbH in Tutt­lin­gen in Octo­ber 2023. Zimmer & Hälbig will be inte­gra­ted into the VINCI Ener­gies Buil­ding Solu­ti­ons network with 150 busi­ness units in Germany, thus expan­ding the range of multi-tech­­ni­­cal solu­ti­ons for buildings. 

“Zimmer & Hälbig has estab­lished itself as an extre­mely successful company thanks to its excel­lent market posi­tio­ning and the high quality of its manage­ment,” explains Chris­tian Futter­lieb, Mana­ging Direc­tor at VR Equi­typ­art­ner. “The team’s strong entre­pre­neu­rial commit­ment, clear commer­cial focus and in-depth exper­tise have contri­bu­ted signi­fi­cantly to this deve­lo­p­ment. We are convin­ced that Zimmer & Hälbig is well posi­tio­ned for the future and has found a good home and a strong part­ner for its future deve­lo­p­ment in VINCI Energies. ”

Achim Hense­ler, Mana­ging Direc­tor of Zimmer & Hälbig, adds: “VREP has been the right part­ner for us since 2022 to successfully imple­ment key growth steps — with stra­te­gic exper­tise, opera­tio­nal support and a clear focus on the essen­ti­als. The colla­bo­ra­tion has been charac­te­ri­zed by trust and profes­sio­na­lism right from the start. We would like to express our sincere thanks for this and are now looking forward to conti­nuing on our chosen course at VINCI Energies.”

The tran­sac­tion is still subject to appr­oval by the anti­trust autho­ri­ties. The parties have agreed not to disc­lose details of the contract.

About VR Equitypartner

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 40 commit­ments with an invest­ment volume of EUR 400 million.
Further infor­ma­tion can be found at www.vrep.de.

The tran­sac­tion team at VR Equitypartner:

Michael Vogt (photo © Vrep), Alex­an­der Bernin­ger, Markus Huber, Jens Schöf­fel and Patrick Heinze

Consul­ting firms invol­ved in the tran­sac­tion by VREP:

M&A: Cars­ten Burger, DC Advisory
Legal: Dr. Lars Laeger, ARQIS
Commer­cial: Matthias Müller, Deloitte
Finan­cial: Florian Teuner, Deloitte
Tax: Marcus Roth, Deloitte