News-Kategorie: Deals

Munich, London, Paris — Silver­fleet Capi­tal, the pan-Euro­pean private equity firm, has signed an agree­ment to sell 7days to a consor­tium of inves­tors inclu­ding Chequers Capi­tal and Para­gon Part­ners. 7days is a provi­der of work­wear for medi­cal profes­si­ons head­quar­te­red in Germany. For Silver­fleet Capi­tal, the gross money multi­ple is 3.1x. Details of the tran­sac­tion, which is still subject to custo­mary regu­la­tory appr­oval and is expec­ted to close in Janu­ary 2021, are not being disclosed.

7days was foun­ded in 1999 in Lotte near Osna­brück. Today, the company is a leading supplier of modern and inno­va­tive work­wear for medi­cal profes­si­ons. 7days designs, manu­fac­tures and distri­bu­tes a wide range of high-quality products, from jackets to lab coats, for more than 300,000 health­care custo­mers in twelve count­ries, inclu­ding Germany, Austria, Switz­er­land, France, Belgium, the Nether­lands and Scandinavia.

7days combi­nes a fully inte­gra­ted multi-chan­nel distri­bu­tion plat­form, inclu­ding both cata­log marke­ting and strong e‑commerce chan­nels, with a verti­cally inte­gra­ted busi­ness model with diver­si­fied supply chains and in-house CSR (1)-compliant design and manu­fac­tu­ring capa­bi­li­ties. This enab­led the company to achieve stable, coun­ter­cy­cli­cal growth in its home market and also inter­na­tio­nally. Today, 7days employs 240 people across four loca­ti­ons and is expec­ted to gene­rate reve­nues of over €40 million in 2020 — repre­sen­ting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19% during Silverfleet’s holding period. 7days is a certi­fied member of amfori BSCI (Busi­ness Social Compli­ance Initia­tive) — an initia­tive aimed at impro­ving social stan­dards in value chains world­wide — and is commit­ted to the BSCI Code of Conduct for Fair and Social Production.

Silver­fleet inves­ted in 7days from its mid-market fund in early 2018. Against the back­drop of a highly frag­men­ted health­care work­wear market, Silver­fleet saw great poten­tial here for sustainable long-term growth and expan­sion into new markets. Ther­e­fore, Silver­fleet desi­gned and imple­men­ted a successful trans­for­ma­tion and inter­na­tio­na­liza­tion stra­tegy for 7days, as part of which the company acqui­red Praxis Herning, a Danish provi­der of medi­cal work­wear for the Scan­di­na­vian market, in Decem­ber 2018, signi­fi­cantly expan­ding its geogra­phic reach. In addi­tion, Silver­fleet supported the company during its nearly three-year holding period in expan­ding its online sales chan­nels and imple­men­ting inter­na­tio­nally reco­gni­zed, CSR-compli­ant procu­re­ment and produc­tion standards.

“We would like to take this oppor­tu­nity to thank Ulrich Dölken and Cars­ten Meyer, CEO and CFO of 7days, for the trustful coope­ra­tion over the past years. 7days is a typi­cal exam­ple of a Silver­fleet invest­ment — a leading company in a niche market with compel­ling unique selling propo­si­ti­ons, an expe­ri­en­ced manage­ment team and poten­tial for trans­for­ma­tion and opera­tio­nal impro­ve­ment as well as inter­na­tio­nal expan­sion. We are proud to have supported 7days on its growth trajec­tory to date and in its trans­for­ma­tion into a leading and inno­va­tive provi­der of high quality and fashionable work­wear for the health­care sector in Europe. We are plea­sed to place 7days in such capa­ble hands as it conti­nues on its growth path,” said Joachim Braun, Part­ner at Silver­fleet Capital.

“We have taken a number of important steps to further expand 7days’ posi­tion as a market leader, both orga­ni­cally and through a stra­te­gic acqui­si­tion. 7days has not only proven resi­li­ent to crisis, parti­cu­larly during the current COVID-19 pande­mic, but has also deli­vered sustained above-market growth,” adds Benja­min Hubner, Prin­ci­pal at Silver­fleet Capital.

“In recent years, we have been able to posi­tion oursel­ves very well in the Euro­pean market for medi­cal work­wear by impro­ving our online sales chan­nels and deve­lo­ping new custo­mer segments based on their indi­vi­dual requi­re­ments. We were also able to expand into the Scan­di­na­vian market through a targe­ted stra­te­gic acqui­si­tion. This would not have been possi­ble without the support of Silver­fleet Capi­tal, for which we would like to express our grati­tude. With the support of our new part­ners Chequers Capi­tal and Para­gon Part­ners, we want to conti­nue to achieve the highest custo­mer satis­fac­tion with high-quality work­wear for medi­cal profes­sio­nals in the future,” say Ulrich Dölken and Cars­ten Meyer, CEO and CFO of 7days.

At Silver­fleet, Joachim Braun and Benja­min Hubner were respon­si­ble for the tran­sac­tion. The invest­ment company was advi­sed on the tran­sac­tion by William Blair (M&A), PwC (Finan­cial, Tax, ESG), Latham & Watkins (Tax), McDer­mott (Corpo­rate Legal), Shear­man & Ster­ling (Banking Legal) and goetz­part­ners (Commer­cial).

About Silver­fleet Capital
Silver­fleet Capi­tal has been active as a private equity inves­tor in the Euro­pean mid-market for more than 30 years. The 31-strong invest­ment team works from Munich, London, Paris, Stock­holm and Amsterdam.
Nume­rous invest­ments were made from the second inde­pen­dent fund closed in 2015 with a volume of 870 million euros, inclu­ding: Coven­tya, a French deve­lo­per of specialty chemi­cals; Sigma Compon­ents, a manu­fac­tu­rer of precis­ion compon­ents for civil avia­tion based in the United King­dom; Life­time Trai­ning, a provi­der of trai­ning programs based in the United King­dom; Pumpen­fa­brik Wangen, a manu­fac­tu­rer of specialty pumps based in Germany; Riviera Travel, an opera­tor of escor­ted group tours and crui­ses based in the United King­dom; 7days, a German provi­der of medi­cal work­wear, among others.

Silver­fleet Capi­tal also main­ta­ins an invest­ment team focu­sed on smal­ler middle-market compa­nies that has alre­ady made two successful invest­ments: STAXS Conta­mi­na­tion Control Experts, a leading supplier of clean­room supplies in the Bene­lux (closed in Janu­ary 2019), and Trust­Quay, a leading provi­der of trust and fund admi­nis­tra­tion soft­ware for the trust and corpo­rate services industry.
Silver­fleet achie­ves value growth by inves­t­ing in compa­nies in its core sectors that bene­fit from speci­fic, long-term trends. Silver­fleet supports these compa­nies in their future growth stra­te­gies. As part of these stra­te­gies, invest­ments are made in orga­nic growth drivers, inter­na­tio­na­liza­tion, stra­te­gic acqui­si­ti­ons or opera­tio­nal impro­ve­ment proces­ses. Since 2004, Silver­fleet Capi­tal has inves­ted €2.1 billion in 32 companies.
Silver­fleet specia­li­zes in four key indus­tries: Busi­ness and Finan­cial Services, Health­care, Manu­fac­tu­ring, and Retail and Consu­mer Goods.
Since 2004, the private equity inves­tor has inves­ted 29% of its assets in compa­nies head­quar­te­red in the DACH region, 32% in the UK and Ireland, 21% in Scan­di­na­via, 15% in France and Bene­lux (includes an invest­ment sourced in Belgium and head­quar­te­red in the US), and 3% in other count­ries. www.silverfleetcapital.com

About Chequers
Origi­nally French subsi­diary of the Char­ter­house Group foun­ded in Paris in 1972. Inde­pen­dent since 2000 under the name Chequers Capi­tal. 300 invest­ments made in Europe in just under 50 years. 2017 Closing of Chequers Capi­tal XVII with a volume of €1.1 billion.

Our invest­ment stra­tegy: compa­nies with a value of €80 million to €500 million. Capi­tal invest­ment of €40 million to €150 million per tran­sac­tion. Compa­nies based in France, Germany, Italy, Bene­lux count­ries, Switz­er­land and Spain. Acti­vity in the indus­trial, service and commer­cial sectors. Wide range of tran­sac­tion types: MBO & LBO, indus­try conso­li­da­tion, deve­lo­p­ment capi­tal, owner­ship restruc­tu­ring, spin-off, turn­around. As majo­rity or mino­rity share­hol­der in close coope­ra­tion with manage­ment for a period of 5 to 10 years. www.chequerscpaital.com

Oakley Capi­tal (“Oakley”) announ­ced today that Oakley has ente­red into an agree­ment to acquire Wind­Star Medi­cal GmbH (“Wind­Star Medi­cal”) from ProSiebenSat.1 majo­rity-owned NuCom Group.

Wind­Star Medi­cal is the leading German consu­mer health­care company for over-the-coun­ter (OTC) health­care products. The plat­form expects sales of more than 120 million euros from the deve­lo­p­ment and distri­bu­tion of bran­ded and private-label products in the current year. It has an exten­sive history of success in deve­lo­ping and estab­li­shing premium formu­la­ti­ons and brands.

In this context, Wind­Star Medical’s Consu­mer Brands divi­sion offers a wide range of high-growth premium bran­ded products in Germany, inclu­ding SOS (wound care/disinfectants), Zirku­lin (treat­ment of gastro­in­testi­nal complaints), Green­doc (mental well-being) and EyeMe­dica (eye health). Wind­Star also produ­ces private-label products for leading German drugs­to­res and super­mar­kets, while deve­lo­ping inter­na­tio­nal distri­bu­tion through exis­ting and new partners.

Wind­Star Medi­cal is bene­fiting from the long-term struc­tu­ral growth of the German consu­mer health market. This growth is being driven in parti­cu­lar by demo­gra­phic trends, such as the aging popu­la­tion, a shift in consu­mer demand due to increased aware­ness regar­ding physi­cal and mental well-being, and a willing­ness among the popu­la­tion to prevent dise­ase. As part of its invest­ment, Oakley will help the company’s manage­ment team conti­nue its growth trajec­tory, realize product inno­va­tion, incre­asingly digi­tize the busi­ness and iden­tify attrac­tive acqui­si­tion oppor­tu­ni­ties that can acce­le­rate the company’s growth.

The invest­ment in Wind­Star Medi­cal conti­nues Oakley’s track record of inves­t­ing in leading B2C plat­forms in the DACH region. Invest­ments alre­ady made include Veri­vox, Parship Elite and most recently Wish­card Tech­no­lo­gies and 7NXT / Gymondo. With its asset-light busi­ness model, indus­try-leading opera­tio­nal capa­bi­li­ties and attrac­tive growth pros­pects, the company now acqui­red fits the ideal tran­sac­tion profile for Oakley.

Peter Dubens (pictu­red), Mana­ging Part­ner at Oakley Capi­tal, said:

“Wind­Star Medi­cal is a unique plat­form for OTC health­care products with a very attrac­tive market posi­tion, whose deve­lo­p­ment and manage­ment team Oakley has closely follo­wed over the past years. We look forward to working with the team and will use our exten­sive expe­ri­ence in digi­ta­liza­tion, go-to-market as well as M&A to help Wind­Star further acce­le­rate its growth trajec­tory both dome­sti­cally and internationally.”

About Oakley Capital
Oakley Capi­tal is a private equity firm with more than €3 billion in assets under manage­ment focu­sed on Western Europe. Oakley invests in middle-market compa­nies across the region in three core sectors — consu­mer, educa­tion and technology.

Oakley’s entre­pre­neu­rial mind­set and deep indus­try know­ledge allows him to iden­tify speci­fic invest­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties and gene­rate supe­rior returns. The Oakley team works closely with a unique network of entre­pre­neurs and successful manage­ment teams to access primary proprie­tary invest­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties and gain valuable insights into the busi­ness models in which it invests. The ability to over­come comple­xity and a flexi­ble approach to value crea­tion enable Oakley to help its port­fo­lio compa­nies achieve sustainable growth.

About Wind­Star Medical
Wind­Star Medi­cal Group deve­lops compa­nies in the exten­ded health­care market. The Group’s busi­ness units are accom­pa­nied on their deve­lo­p­ment path and in their inter­na­tio­nal expan­sion. Wind­Star Medical’s mission is to quickly and consis­t­ently build market leaders who can assert them­sel­ves as inde­pen­dent compa­nies in their markets. The company head­quar­ters are loca­ted in Wehr­heim in the Taunus region. Let’s improve quality of life! — This is the driving force and moti­va­tion of the more than 120 employees of the group of compa­nies. For more infor­ma­tion, visit: www.windstar-medical.com. About the busi­ness units of the Wind­Star Medi­cal Group: Districon GmbH — Global Power Brands made for you! www.districon.eu, Dr. Kleine Pharma GmbH — Part­ne­ring Services — from the idea to the point of sale! www.kleine-pharma.com.

Paris/ Frank­furt am Main — Ardian, a leading inde­pen­dent invest­ment firm, today announ­ced the successful fund­rai­sing of €2 billion for its latest expan­sion fund, Ardian Expan­sion Fund V. Despite the chal­len­ging market envi­ron­ment due to Covid-19, Ardian Expan­sion has thus doubled the fund size compared to the previous gene­ra­tion in just six months, which also speaks for the unch­an­ged high attrac­ti­ve­ness of high-growth Euro­pean mid-cap companies.

Ardian Expan­sion Fund V has a global and diver­si­fied inves­tor base. While more than one-third of inves­tors inves­ted with Ardian for the first time, inves­tors in previous gene­ra­ti­ons of funds repre­sent half of the new fund’s volume, a testa­ment to their long-term confi­dence in the expan­sion team and the attrac­ti­ve­ness of the asset class. Thanks to new inves­tors from the Asia and Middle East regi­ons, the fund has also broa­dened its geogra­phi­cal focus.

In addi­tion, the fund expan­ded its inves­tor base, which now includes a sove­reign wealth fund for the first time along­side insu­rance compa­nies, high net worth indi­vi­du­als and pension funds. Seve­ral mana­gers from Ardian Expansion’s port­fo­lio compa­nies have also subscri­bed to fund units. They account for nearly five percent of the fund’s assets, unders­coring the good rela­ti­onships the expan­sion team has built with the manage­ment teams of their port­fo­lio companies.

With a total of 27 profes­sio­nals in Paris, Frank­furt am Main, Milan and Luxem­bourg, the Ardian Expan­sion team will conti­nue its stra­tegy of support­ing successful entre­pre­neurs in imple­men­ting their growth plans. On average, Ardian Expansion’s port­fo­lio compa­nies have each grown orga­ni­cally by more than ten percent in the past and have reali­zed almost four acqui­si­ti­ons on average. Thus, the stra­te­gic value of the compa­nies was increased through acce­le­ra­ted transformation.

Fran­çois Jerpha­gnon, Head of Ardian Expan­sion, said: “We are hono­red by the trust our inves­tors have placed in us. To double the fund size from our prede­ces­sor fund in just six months speaks to the success of our stra­tegy and the finan­cial perfor­mance it is deli­ve­ring for our inves­tors. Part of this invest­ment philo­so­phy, which we have culti­va­ted for 20 years, is to build strong rela­ti­onships with expe­ri­en­ced and dedi­ca­ted manage­ment teams and acce­le­rate value crea­tion for all stake­hol­ders through the Ardian platform.”

Ardian’s expan­sion team is focu­sed on buil­ding long-term rela­ti­onships with manage­ment teams — on average, there are about three years between first meeting and an invest­ment. As part of its flexi­ble invest­ment approach, the team is able to take both mino­rity and majo­rity stakes. This approach is also reflec­ted in the team’s strong track record of support­ing manage­ment teams in the areas of digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion and sustaina­bi­lity. For exam­ple, the team supports digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion projects at Diam and CCC, as well as native digi­tal busi­ness models, such as at CLS and Berlin Brands Group. As a pioneer in the imple­men­ta­tion of profit-sharing, Ardian and the Expan­sion Team distri­bute a portion of the profits reali­zed through growth to the employees of its port­fo­lio compa­nies upon dive­st­ment. Since the intro­duc­tion of this concept ten years ago, around 15 port­fo­lio compa­nies of Ardian Expan­sion have alre­ady bene­fi­ted from the profit-sharing scheme.

Despite the econo­mic down­turn in the COVID-19 pande­mic, Ardian Expan­sion contin­ued to make new invest­ments. The team has focu­sed on compa­nies that have strong orga­nic and exter­nal growth poten­tial and operate in robust sectors. The new fund is alre­ady 10 percent inves­ted. In May 2020, i.e. still during the lock-down, the purchase agree­ment was signed for Swiss­bit, a provi­der of NAND flash-based storage as well as embedded IoT solu­ti­ons for deman­ding niche appli­ca­ti­ons with substan­tial orga­nic growth poten­tial. This was follo­wed in July 2020 by the acqui­si­tion of Finaxy, a leading French broad-based insu­rance broker with a track record of strong orga­nic as well as exter­nal growth. The strong manage­ment teams in each case were among the decisive factors in the closing of these transactions.

About Ardian
Ardian is one of the world’s leading inde­pen­dent invest­ment firms, mana­ging over US$100 billion in assets for its inves­tors from Europe, South and North America and Asia. The company is majo­rity-owned by its employees and gene­ra­tes sustainable, attrac­tive returns for its investors.

With the objec­tive of achie­ving posi­tive results for all stake­hol­ders, Ardian’s acti­vi­ties promote indi­vi­du­als, compa­nies and econo­mies world­wide. Ardian’s invest­ment philo­so­phy is aligned with the three guiding prin­ci­ples of excel­lence, loyalty and entrepreneurship.

The company has a global network of more than 690 employees and 15 offices in Europe (Frank­furt, Jersey, London, Luxem­bourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich), South America (Sant­iago de Chile), North America (New York and San Fran­cisco) and Asia (Beijing, Seoul, Singa­pore and Tokyo). Ardian mana­ges the assets of its more than 1,000 inves­tors in five invest­ment areas: Direct Funds, Funds of Funds, Infra­struc­ture, Private Debt and Real Estate.