Paris/Frankfurt — Idin­vest Part­ners finan­ces add-on acqui­si­tion for frozen food produ­cer frostkrone
The private debt team of Idin­vest Part­ners, a Euro­pean invest­ment firm specia­li­zing in the SME segment, today announ­ced finan­cing for the acqui­si­tion by frost­krone Tief­kühl­kost GmbH (“frost­krone”) of Piz’­Wich, a French specialty manu­fac­tu­rer of frozen snack products. frost­krone, one of the leading manu­fac­tu­r­ers of frozen ready-to-eat products in Europe, has been a port­fo­lio company of EMERAM Capi­tal Part­ners since 2017. — This is Idin­vest Part­ners’ third German private debt deal in 2018.

frost­krone is based in Riet­berg, North Rhine-West­pha­lia, and specia­li­zes in the deve­lo­p­ment and produc­tion of frozen finger food and snack products. Piz’­Wich was foun­ded in 2001 and since then has expe­ri­en­ced contin­ued growth in a rapidly deve­lo­ping and expan­ding market. As a subsi­diary of frost­krone, Piz’­Wich will conti­nue its inter­na­tio­nal expan­sion along­side frost­krone and focus on further expan­ding its current market posi­tion in the fast-growing niche segment.

Eric Gallerne, Part­ner for Private Debt at Idin­vest Part­ners, said: “In our invest­ments, we pay very close atten­tion to the quality and deve­lo­p­ment pros­pects of the compa­nies we support. In Germany, espe­ci­ally in the lower mid market segment, there are many compa­nies that are extre­mely successful — also inter­na­tio­nally — in their market niche. frost­krone and Piz’­Wich both meet these crite­ria, so this tran­sac­tion fits perfectly into our profile.”

Frédé­ric Dervieux, Mana­ging Part­ner of frost­krone, added: “With the acqui­si­tion of Piz’­Wich, frost­krone is posi­tio­ning itself even better for a successful future. Toge­ther with Piz’­Wich, we will iden­tify trends even faster and imple­ment them in a way that is suita­ble for snacks, thus further expan­ding our posi­tion as an inno­va­tive pioneer.”

Dr. Chris­tian Näther, Mana­ging Direc­tor of EMERAM Capi­tal Part­ners, added: “Piz’Wich’s unique and highly inno­va­tive products comple­ment frostkrone’s compre­hen­sive snack port­fo­lio and enable it to jointly address new custo­mer needs. In addi­tion, frostkrone’s large custo­mer network will help Piz’­Wich to pene­trate inter­na­tio­nal markets even faster.”

Idin­vest Part­ners streng­thens private debt invest­ment acti­vity in Germany and Europe
With this finan­cing, Idin­vest Part­ners conti­nues its active private debt invest­ment acti­vity in the German market. Most recently, the company, toge­ther with other debt inves­tors, had supported the acqui­si­tion of Halex Holding, a North Rhine-West­pha­lia-based manu­fac­tu­rer of extru­sion dies and service provi­der for heat treat­ment, by Bencis Capi­tal Part­ners. In Febru­ary, Auctus Capi­tal Part­ners acqui­red GS Star Hotel Group with the help of a unitran­che finan­cing from Idin­vest Part­ners. The Group opera­tes hotels throug­hout Germany and in Austria and the Nether­lands under the Hamp­ton by Hilton, Holi­day Inn, Holi­day Inn Express and Super 8 brands, as well as under its own ANA Art Hotels brand.

Across Europe, Idin­vest Part­ners’ private debt invest­ment acti­vity in the first quar­ter was around twice as high as in the same period last year (three tran­sac­tions, €69 million), with seven tran­sac­tions and an invest­ment volume of €120 million. In 2017, the company had carried out a total of 45 tran­sac­tions in Europe with a volume of 900 million euros. Germany accoun­ted for around 20 percent of this invest­ment volume, making it the second-largest market after France (65 percent).

About Idin­vest Partners
Idin­vest Part­ners is a leading Euro­pean invest­ment firm focu­sed on the mid market. The company was foun­ded in 1997 as part of the Alli­anz Group under the name AGF Private Equity and has been inde­pen­dent since 2010. Curr­ently, Idin­vest Part­ners mana­ges assets of around €9 billion with more than 90 employees and has offices in Paris, Frank­furt, Madrid, Shang­hai and Dubai. Idin­vest Part­ners has three busi­ness units: Private Funds Group, Private Debt and Venture & Growth Capital.

For Private Debt, Idin­vest Part­ners opened an office in Frank­furt in 2017 as part of its inter­na­tio­nal growth stra­tegy to support port­fo­lio compa­nies and clients in the German market. Idin­vest Part­ners’ debt solu­ti­ons include direct loans, acqui­si­tion loans, and asset finance. www.idinvest.com

About frost­krone Tief­kühl­kost GmbH
frost­krone and its subsi­diary Born­hol­ter specia­lize in the produc­tion and distri­bu­tion of frozen finger food and snack products. Since its foun­ding in 1997, the company has estab­lished itself as an inno­va­tive first mover in the conve­ni­ence frozen food sector. frost­krone is charac­te­ri­zed by a wide range of products based on cheese, fish, vege­ta­bles and meat and sells its products in the food retail and food service sectors. www.frostkrone.de

About EMERAM Capi­tal Partners
EMERAM Capi­tal Part­ners is an inde­pen­dent invest­ment company for medium-sized compa­nies in German-spea­king count­ries. With a fund volume of €350 million, the funds advi­sed by EMERAM Capi­tal Part­ners provide capi­tal for the deve­lo­p­ment of compa­nies and curr­ently manage nine port­fo­lio compa­nies: Boards & More, BENCH Inter­na­tio­nal, Hussel, Matrix42, diva‑e Digi­tal Value Enter­prise, Xovis, Draht­zug Stein Gruppe, frost­krone Tief­kühl­kost and the Meona Group. www.emeram.com