DPE invests in leading engineering service provider VTU

Munich/Graz — Funds advi­sed by DPE Deut­sche Private Equity Manage­ment III GmbH (DPE) acquire a majo­rity stake in VTU Engi­nee­ring (“VTU” or the “Company”). The foun­ding team remains signi­fi­cantly invol­ved in the company.

VTU is a leading engi­nee­ring service provi­der for the plan­ning and opti­miza­tion of process plants up to the gene­ral plan­ning of major invest­ments in the phar­maceu­ti­cal, biotech­no­logy, chemi­cal, metall­ur­gi­cal, and oil and gas indus­tries. The company has 20 loca­ti­ons in Austria, Germany, Switz­er­land, Italy and Roma­nia and employs over 400 highly quali­fied employees.

“Since its foun­da­tion in 1990, VTU Engi­nee­ring has stood for the highest level of compe­tence, quality and relia­bi­lity in plant design. Our growth path so far proves that we have deve­lo­ped from an Austrian specia­list to a leading plant desi­gner and project mana­ger in the entire German-spea­king region and beyond through tech­ni­cal know-how and a constant expan­sion of core compe­ten­cies,” comm­ents foun­der Dr. Michael Koncar, who will support the company in the future as a member of the advi­sory board.

Since 2010, VTU has more than tripled its sales and more than doubled its work­force. Major projects with phar­maceu­ti­cal custo­mers in Germany, Austria and Switz­er­land are the main growth drivers. DPE Mana­ging Direc­tor Guido Prehn empha­si­zes: “We have been follo­wing VTU’s deve­lo­p­ment for more than two years. We are impres­sed by how the company has estab­lished long-stan­­ding rela­ti­onships with the big names in the phar­maceu­ti­cal indus­try. We see signi­fi­cant growth poten­tial for VTU and will stron­gly support the manage­ment team as it conti­nues on its course.” VTU intends to leverage its strong market posi­tion and repu­ta­tion as a phar­maceu­ti­cal specia­list to drive growth with new custo­mers. “We are looking forward to tack­ling VTU’s next growth initia­ti­ves with an expe­ri­en­ced, entre­pre­neu­rial and strong part­ner behind us,” under­lines VTU CEO Dr. Fried­rich Fröschl.

About DPE Deut­sche Private Equity
DPE Deut­sche Private Equity (“DPE”), foun­ded by Volker Hichert (photo ) and Marc Thiery, is an inde­pen­dent German private equity firm and one of the largest growth capi­tal provi­ders in Germany. It focu­ses on medium-sized compa­nies in German-spea­king count­ries that operate in sectors with posi­tive long-term deve­lo­p­ment pros­pects. DPE was foun­ded in 2007 and has since inves­ted in 21 compa­nies, making 48 follow-on invest­ments and employ­ing more than 7,300 people today. DPE mana­ges total assets of around € 1.2 billion.

Advi­sor DPE: P+P Pöllath + Partners
P+P advi­sed DPE on German tax aspects of the acqui­si­tion with the follo­wing team:
— Dr. Michael Best (Part­ner, Tax Law, Munich)
— Gerald Herr­mann (Coun­sel, Tax Law Munich)