Paris/ Munich — EMZ Part­ners (“EMZ”) acqui­res a signi­fi­cant stake in H&Z Unter­neh­mens­be­ra­tung (“H&Z”). In addi­tion to EMZ, a total of 120 H&Z employees will parti­ci­pate in the group, forming one of the largest employee parti­ci­pa­tion programs in the manage­ment consul­ting indus­try in DACH. The parties have agreed not to disc­lose the finan­cial details of the invest­ment. The tran­sac­tion is subject to appr­oval by the anti­trust authorities.

H&Z was foun­ded in 1997 as an inde­pen­dent consul­ting firm in Munich and has since pursued the unique approach of “consul­ting with brain, heart and hand”. The consul­ting projects focus stron­gly on sustainable trans­for­ma­tion and tangi­ble results for custo­mers. The company has conti­nuously expan­ded its market posi­tion and repu­ta­tion over the past 25 years and has once again signi­fi­cantly acce­le­ra­ted its growth in the last three years.

H&Z curr­ently advi­ses its clients prima­rily in the areas of Procu­re­ment & Supply Chain, Stra­tegy & Perfor­mance and Sustaina­bi­lity & Trans­for­ma­tion, from stra­tegy deve­lo­p­ment through to successful imple­men­ta­tion. In the coming years, the manage­ment team plans to further expand the range of consul­ting services orga­ni­cally and inor­ga­ni­cally and to deve­lop H&Z into the leading Euro­pean consul­ting firm for the circu­lar economy.

“H&Z impres­sed us right from the start with its impres­sive growth history and leading posi­tion in the field of value chain manage­ment. We appre­ciate the corpo­rate culture estab­lished by the manage­ment team around Stefan Aich­bauer, Michael Santo, Harald Enz and Stefan Franz and the “hands-on” menta­lity of the entire team, which is fully in line with EMZ’s philo­so­phy. We are deligh­ted to be able to help shape the future deve­lo­p­ment as share­hol­ders and part­ners of the manage­ment team,” says Klaus Maurer, Senior Part­ner at EMZ.

Harald Enz, one of the three members of the H&Z Manage­ment Board, under­lines the growth plans: “EMZ’s invest­ment gives our ambi­tious growth targets a further strong boost. In addi­tion to strong orga­nic growth, we are plan­ning joint acqui­si­ti­ons to streng­then our core busi­ness, expand our exper­tise and deve­lop and extend our regio­nal presence in Central and Nort­hern Europe.”

Advi­sors to EMZ: Latham & Watkins (“Legal, Corpo­rate, & Struc­ture”), goetz­part­ners (“Commer­cial”), RSM Ebner Stolz (“Finan­cial, Tax”), MCF Corpo­rate Finance (“M&A”), Houli­han Lokey (“Debt Advi­sory”) and Good­win Proc­ter (“Legal, Financing”).

About H&Z

H&Z Unter­neh­mens­be­ra­tung stands for consul­ting with brain, heart and hand. The company’s experts design, manage and support trans­for­ma­tion proces­ses with measura­ble results. With this unique consul­ting approach, H&Z ensu­res sustainable results for corpo­rate groups and leading inter­na­tio­nal SMEs. The consul­ting focus is on the areas of procu­re­ment, stra­tegy & perfor­mance, sustaina­bi­lity & trans­for­ma­tion and custo­mer expe­ri­ence — where H&Z is one of the leading consul­tancies in Europe. www.hz.group

About EMZ Partners

EMZ is a leading Euro­pean invest­ment company with offices in Paris and Munich. EMZ focu­ses on small and medium-sized compa­nies and offers flexi­ble capi­tal solu­ti­ons in close part­ner­ship with foun­ders, family share­hol­ders and mana­gers. EMZ is majo­rity-owned by its own employees and has a base of Euro­pean insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tors. The current fund has a volume of more than 1.3 billion euros, with invest­ments ranging from 10 to 200 million euros. www.emzpartners.com