svt Group merges with the Rolf Kuhn Group

Brussels, Febru­ary 9, 2018 — svt Holding GmbH (“svt”), a port­fo­lio company of Ergon Capi­tal Part­ners III S.A. (“Ergon”), joins forces with the Rolf Kuhn Group, consis­ting of Rolf Kuhn GmbH and an indi­rect 90% inte­rest in Rolf Kuhn Brand­schutz GmbH, Austria, as well as Flamro Bran­d­­schutz-Systeme GmbH, Prüf- und Tech­nik­zen­trum Brand­schutz GmbH and Kuhn Service GmbH (the “Rolf Kuhn Group”).

The Rolf Kuhn Group, foun­ded in 1976, is a leading German manu­fac­tu­rer of fire protec­tion mate­ri­als for the proces­sing indus­try, espe­ci­ally the door indus­try, for complete systems in buil­ding services as well as fire protec­tion access­ories for the glazing indus­try. Flamro, a leading manu­fac­tu­rer of bulk­head systems, has also been part of the Rolf Kuhn Group since 2012, as has Brand­che­mie since 2016.

The merger of the Rolf Kuhn Group and svt crea­tes a leading Euro­pean supplier of fire protec­tion products with the largest and most compre­hen­sive product port­fo­lio. Toge­ther, the group employs over 600 people and gene­ra­tes sales of appro­xi­m­ately €150 million in over 60 count­ries. The Group has an exten­sive port­fo­lio of over 400 natio­nal and inter­na­tio­nal approvals

Mr. Jürgen Wied, as the respon­si­ble opera­tio­nal mana­ging direc­tor in the compa­nies of the Rolf Kuhn Group, looks back on 23 years of expe­ri­ence with the Rolf Kuhn Group and will conti­nue to hold the opera­tio­nal respon­si­bi­lity. Mr. Harald Kuhn, as previous share­hol­der of the Rolf Kuhn Group, will contri­bute his valuable expe­ri­ence to the joint group within the frame­work of an advi­sory board posi­tion. Mr. Stef­fen Gerdau will lead the Group as CEO.

“After long and inten­sive deli­be­ra­ti­ons on the solu­tion for the succes­sion of the Rolf Kuhn Group, I am convin­ced to have found the ideal part­ner in svt. The acti­vi­ties of the two compa­nies, which have grown conti­nuously in recent years, comple­ment each other perfectly,” commen­ted Harald Kuhn. Stef­fen Gerdau said, “I am looking forward to working with the employees of the Rolf Kuhn Group. svt and Rolf Kuhn comple­ment each other ideally and I am convin­ced that toge­ther the new group will serve its custo­mers even more successfully in the natio­nal and inter­na­tio­nal markets.”

Wolf­gang de Limburg, Mana­ging Part­ner of Ergon, added: “We are very plea­sed to accom­pany svt and Rolf Kuhn in this important stra­te­gic step. We are convin­ced of the indus­trial logic of the merger and thank both manage­ment teams and Mr. Kuhn for their confi­dence in Ergon as a new share­hol­der.” Nils Lüssem, Part­ner at Ergon in Germany added: “The combi­ned group forms a leading Euro­pean market player in the attrac­tive niche market of products for preven­tive passive fire protec­tion. We are plea­sed to be able to support the combi­ned group in the future.” — The merger is subject to the suspen­sive condi­tion of anti­trust approval.

About Rolf Kuhn Group
The Rolf Kuhn Group was foun­ded in 1976 and has its head­quar­ters in Ernd­te­brück in North Rhine-West­­pha­­lia. The Rolf Kuhn Group is a leading manu­fac­tu­rer of fire protec­tion mate­ri­als for the proces­sing indus­try, espe­ci­ally the door indus­try, for complete systems in buil­ding tech­no­logy as well as fire protec­tion access­ories for the glazing indus­try. With ~160 employees, the group distri­bu­tes its products in Germany and inter­na­tio­nally in ~60 count­ries in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America.
www.kuhn-brandschutz.com and www.flamro.de

About svt
svt was foun­ded in 1969 and has its head­quar­ters in Seeve­tal near Hamburg. svt is a leading supplier of products for preven­tive passive fire protec­tion and their instal­la­tion. In addi­tion, svt is a full-service provi­der for damage resto­ra­tion services follo­wing fire, water and natu­ral hazards damage, as well as for the removal of pollut­ants. With ~450 employees, svt serves its custo­mers through its nati­on­wide network of 32 offices and through its subsi­dia­ries in Singa­pore, Dubai and Poland. www.svt.de

About Ergon Capi­tal Part­ners III S.A.
Ergon Capi­tal Part­ners III S.A. (“Ergon”) is a leading middle market inves­tor with ~€500 million of capi­tal under manage­ment, predo­mi­nantly finan­ced by the family holding company Groupe Bruxel­les Lambert (“GBL”). Ergon is a disci­pli­ned and discreet share­hol­der with “friendly” capi­tal and a focus on profes­sio­na­liza­tion, opera­tio­nal value enhance­ment and growth. Ergon is targe­ting equity invest­ments of €25 million to €75 million in leading compa­nies with sustainable compe­ti­tive posi­ti­ons in Bene­lux, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Switz­er­land. Ergon is advi­sed by Ergon Capi­tal Advi­sors with offices in Brussels, Madrid, Milan, Munich and Paris.
Since its foun­da­tion in 2005, Ergon has inves­ted in 18 port­fo­lio compa­nies (5 in Bene­lux, 3 in Germany, 2 in France, 7 in Italy and 1 in Spain) as well as 31 addi­tio­nal acqui­si­ti­ons with a volume of € 3.0 billion.