Riverside invests in cleanroom contamination control group

Munich — Global inves­tor River­side signs binding agree­ment to acquire leading clean­room consu­ma­bles compa­nies Dastex in Germany and Vita Verita in Sweden.

The River­side Company, the global inves­tor specia­li­zing in mid-market growth compa­nies, has signed an agree­ment to acquire Dastex Rein­raum­zu­be­hör GmbH & Co KG (Dastex), a leading specia­li­zed inde­pen­dent distri­bu­tor of clean­room appa­rel and consu­ma­bles in Europe. — In paral­lel, River­side signed an agree­ment to acquire Vita Verita, a leading company in the Swedish market, as the first exten­sion of the plat­form. The closing of the acqui­si­ti­ons is subject to custo­mary regu­la­tory approvals.

Foun­ded in Germany in 1979, Dastex has become a market-leading supplier of clean­room garm­ents and consu­ma­bles in Germany, Austria and Switz­er­land, with a strong foot­hold in the Bene­lux and a growing presence across Europe. The company has grown rapidly in recent years to meet strong demand from the phar­maceu­ti­cal and semi­con­duc­tor indus­tries, thanks to its unique tech­ni­cal know-how and rese­arch and deve­lo­p­ment exper­tise, compre­hen­sive product range and excel­lent custo­mer service.

Foun­ded in Sweden in 1983, Vita Verita is a specia­list in clean­room consu­ma­bles and labo­ra­tory equip­ment, air quality test­ing, service and main­ten­ance for phar­maceu­ti­cal compa­nies, hospi­tals and other control­led envi­ron­ments. The company offers both proprie­tary and third-party products, inclu­ding disposable garm­ents, gloves and wipes, as well as veri­fi­ca­tion and vali­da­tion services. Vita Verita can look back on nearly two deca­des of conti­nuous growth, supported by long-stan­­ding custo­mer rela­ti­onships and a consis­tent focus on quality.

Damien Gaudin, Part­ner at River­side Europewho led the tran­sac­tions, commen­ted: “Through the acqui­si­tion of Dastex and Vita Verita, we combine two clean­room consu­ma­bles specia­lists in Europe that offer indis­pensable products and services and form the core of our pan-Euro­­pean buy-and-build stra­tegy. This crea­tes a unique plat­form perfectly posi­tio­ned to grow further orga­ni­cally and through acqui­si­ti­ons. We look forward to working with the strong manage­ment teams of Dastex and Vita Verita to build the Euro­pean leader in clean­room conta­mi­na­tion control, offe­ring both best-in-class products and tech­ni­cal and regu­la­tory services, supported by an ambi­tious ESG strategy.”

Kars­ten Langer, Mana­ging Part­ner of River­side Europe, added, “The invest­ments unders­core River­side Europe’s exper­tise at the inter­sec­tion of two of our focus sectors: Health­care and Specialty Distri­bu­tion. They are also a clear exam­ple of our pan-Euro­­pean presence and our ability to build leading busi­nesses. Dastex and Vita Verita serve the conti­nuously growing clean­room indus­try, helping custo­mers in the phar­maceu­ti­cal, life scien­ces and other high-tech indus­tries to meet incre­asingly strin­gent quality and regu­la­tory stan­dards. The acqui­si­tion of Dastex and Vita Verita crea­tes a leader in clean­room conta­mi­na­tion control for the bene­fit of its customers.”

Cars­ten Mosch­ner, CEO of Dastex, commen­ted, “The manage­ment team and I are deligh­ted to join forces with Vita Verita and River­side to open the next chap­ter in the company’s history. I stron­gly believe that River­side is the ideal part­ner to support our ambi­tious growth plans and that the addi­tion of Vita Verita and their compre­hen­sive service offe­ring in Sweden is a criti­cal step in our jour­ney to become one of the pree­mi­nent provi­ders of conta­mi­na­tion control products and services in Europe. We look forward to further expan­ding our busi­ness across the conti­nent and provi­ding our custo­mers with an even broa­der full-service offe­ring. I would like to thank all employees, colle­agues, suppli­ers and custo­mers for their great support and trust.”

Anders Kumbrant, CEO, and Magnus Kumbrant, COO of Vita Verita, added: “We are deligh­ted to be working with Dastex and River­side to further realize our ambi­ti­ons and vision for the company. We are parti­cu­larly exci­ted at the pros­pect of working with Dastex, one of Europe’s leading clean­room appa­rel and consu­ma­bles compa­nies, known for its outstan­ding exper­tise and profes­sio­na­lism. We would like to thank Anna-Lena Weiss, who will take a leading role at Vita Verita in the future, as well as the entire Vita Verita team, our custo­mers, suppli­ers and the River­side team for their trust and support.”

Working with Gaudin on the tran­sac­tion for River­side were Vice Presi­dent Maxime Meule­mees­ter, Senior Asso­ciate Nicola Tomaschko, Asso­cia­tes Sebas­tiaan Pauwels and Nils Mjörn­emark, and Origi­na­tion Asso­ciate Bence Putnoky. Damien Gaudin acqui­red the Dastex deal for River­side, while Ali Al Alaf and Nils Mjorn­emark acqui­red the Vita Verita deal.

Advi­sors to the share­hol­ders of the Dastex Group: McDer­mott Will & Emery, Frankfurt
Dr. Michael Cziesla, Norman Wasse, LL.M. (both Corporate/M&A, lead), Dr. Heiko Kermer, Marcus Fischer (Coun­sel; both Tax), Dr. Chris­tian Rolf, Dr. Gudrun Germa­kow­ski (Düssel­dorf; both Labor), Dr. Laura Stamm­witz (Coun­sel, Anti­trust), Dr. Deniz Tschamm­ler (Commercial/ Regu­la­tory, Frankfurt/Munich), Dr. Johan­nes Honzen (Real Estate); Asso­cia­tes: Dr. Marion von Grön­heim, Lisa Schick­ling (both Corporate/M&A), Lukas Deutz­mann (Cologne/Düsseldorf), Ilva Woeste (Munich; both Labor Law), Dr. Lea Hach­meis­ter, Alex­an­dra Heberle (both Healthcare/Regulatory)

dhmp Wirt­schafts­prü­fungs­ge­sell­schaft Steu­er­be­ra­tungs­ge­sell­schaft, Karls­ruhe, Germany
Nota­ries Dr. Frank and Dr. Schnee­weiß, Munich: Dr. Susanne Frank

About The River­side Company

The River­side Company is a global invest­ment firm focu­sed on invest­ments in middle-market growth compa­nies. Since its foun­ding in 1988, River­side has made more than 960 invest­ments. The firm’s inter­na­tio­nal private equity and struc­tu­red capi­tal port­fo­lios include more than 150 compa­nies. Riverside’s Euro­pean opera­ti­ons are an inte­gral part of the company’s exten­sive global network which has been active in Europe since 1989. River­side belie­ves that an inter­na­tio­nal presence combi­ned with deep under­stan­ding of local condi­ti­ons, culture and busi­ness prac­ti­ces makes team members better inves­tors and busi­ness partners.
www.riversidecompany.com