Exit: Active Capital sells shares in SchahlLED Lighting to Thorpe

Munich/ Worces­ter­shire (UK) — ARQIS has advi­sed Active Capi­tal Company (ACC) on the sale of its majo­rity stake in LED specia­list Schahl­LED Light­ing (Schahl­LED) to FW Thorpe Plc (Thorpe).

ACC inves­ted in Schahl­LED in 2019 as ACC’s first direct invest­ment in Germany. Schahl­LED is a provi­der of intel­li­gent indus­trial light­ing solu­ti­ons. The company is based in Unter­schleiß­heim near Munich and is active in Germany, Austria, Switz­er­land and Poland. Toge­ther with manage­ment, ACC has achie­ved strong growth for the company and has become the prefer­red LED solu­tion provi­der for many play­ers in indus­try and logi­stics. The incor­po­ra­tion into the Thorpe Group marks the begin­ning of the next growth phase for Schahl­LED, espe­ci­ally for the expan­sion across Europe. The current manage­ment will remain with the company.

Thorpe, head­quar­te­red in Worces­ter­shire, UK and listed on the London Stock Exch­ange, designs, manu­fac­tures and supplies profes­sio­nal light­ing equip­ment. The acqui­si­tion of Schahl­LED builds on a successful part­ner­ship. Schahl­LED and Thor­lux Light­ing, a divi­sion of FW Thorpe Plc Group, have alre­ady been working toge­ther since 2019, distri­bu­ting Smart­Scan light­ing control products mainly in the German market.

The ARQIS team of Dr. Mauritz von Einem and Dr. Chris­tof Alex­an­der Schnei­der has advi­sed ACC on seve­ral tran­sac­tions in recent years, inclu­ding two add-on tran­sac­tions for Schahl­LED. ACC is an inde­pen­dent private equity inves­tor focu­sing on small and medium-sized compa­nies in the Nether­lands and Germany. ACC maxi­mi­zes the long-term value of its invest­ments by helping manage­ment execute value-added projects and provi­ding access to its exten­sive part­ner network.

Advi­sor ACC: ARQIS (Düsseldorf/ Munich)
Dr. Mauritz von Einem, Dr. Chris­tof Alex­an­der Schnei­der (both lead/ Transactions/ M&A); Coun­sel: Donata Lasson (Labor Law); Mana­ging Asso­ciate: Benja­min Bandur (Corporate/M&A), Nora Meyer-Stra­t­­mann (IP); Asso­ciate: Chris­toph Lutz (Corporate/M&A)

Advi­sors to Thorpe: BDO Legal
Thors­ten Schu­ma­cher, Dr. Konstan­tin Michelsen

About ARQIS
ARQIS is an inde­pen­dent busi­ness law firm opera­ting inter­na­tio­nally. The firm was foun­ded in 2006 in Düssel­dorf, Munich and Tokyo. Around 80 lawy­ers and legal specia­lists advise dome­stic and foreign compa­nies at the highest level on German and Japa­nese busi­ness law. With the focus groups Tran­sac­tions, HR.Law, Japan, Data.Law and Risk, the firm is focu­sed on provi­ding holi­stic advice to its clients. www.arqis.com.