Osnabrück/Rheine — The Osnabrück-based family equity company zwei.7 acquires a stake in the Ossenberg Group. The Rheine-based company is the market leader for walking aids and forearm supports in Germany and, for its part, had taken over the second largest supplier in this market segment — Erwin Kowsky GmbH in Neumünster — in the middle of last year.
The Ossenberg Group is the leading German manufacturer of aids for the walking impaired. The traditional company develops, produces and sells forearm walking aids, light metal canes and orthopedic aids. The medium-sized company, with around 100 employees, has been selling its products through specialist dealers for around six decades — in recent years also very successfully worldwide.
Both companies have agreed to further intensify the strong growth course of the past years in the future. Former shareholder Carsten Diekmann will remain with the company as managing partner. Frank Wieditz will leave the company in February 2020. Both parties have agreed not to disclose financial information about the transaction.
For the Osnabrück-based two.7 family equity firm, this is the first successful acquisition in the HealthCare sector, since its foundation in spring 2018. Karsten Wulf (photo), co-owner of the buw Group for more than 30 years, had launched the two.7 Group in Osnabrück after the successful sale of the call center (6,000 employees, sold to Convergys in 2016). The company’s goal is to actively invest in high-growth medium-sized companies and, in doing so, to contribute Karsten Wulf’s decades of experience as a medium-sized entrepreneur.
“The Ossenberg Group has pursued a convincing growth strategy in recent years and, as a medium-sized company from Rheine, has built up a quality brand worldwide with its products in the mobility industry. Together we want to continue and expand this course,” says Karsten Wulf.
“We are glad to have found an entrepreneurial partner in the zwei.7 Group. The experience of Karsten Wulf and his partner Olaf Bock as successful entrepreneurs from Lower Saxony will help us to master the next growth steps. From entrepreneur to entrepreneur, we discuss at eye level and speak the same language, says Carsten Diekmann, who has managed the Ossenberg Group in Rheine since 2007.
The transaction was accompanied by tax advisor / lawyer Dr. Klaus Stein from Osnabrück.
About two.7
The tzwei.7 group was founded in 2018 by Karsten Wulf in Osnabrück. The family equity house invests in high-growth medium-sized companies and takes entrepreneurial risks with equity capital. The aim is to establish and expand a European health care cluster of small and medium-sized successful companies. The investment in the Ossenberg Group is the first successfully completed transaction in the Health Care portfolio.
About Ossenberg
The Ossenberg Group is the leading German manufacturer of orthopedic aids for the walking impaired. Founded in 2007 in Rheine in eastern Westphalia, the traditional company now sells its products worldwide. Last summer, Ossenberg took over its competitor Erwin Kowsky from Neumünster. The Ossenberg Group employs around 100 people and reported sales of €16.7 million in 2019.