Schwarzmüller Group sells stake in Krone Group

Frein­berg (Austria)/ Munich — The manage­ment consul­tancy Dr. Wiesel­hu­ber & Part­ner (W&P), which specia­li­zes in family busi­nesses, has advi­sed the Pale­tar family, owners of the Schwarz­mül­ler Group, on the sale of a stake to the Krone Group (Bernard Krone Holding SE & Co. KG) as part of a stra­te­gic alli­ance. Schwarz­mül­ler, Euro­pean manu­fac­tu­rer of special vehic­les in the commer­cial vehicle sector (around € 500 million turno­ver), is brin­ging its produc­tion sites in Germany, Hungary, the Czech Repu­blic and Austria under the umbrella of the Krone Commer­cial Vehicle Group as part of the indus­trial partnership.

Beate Pale­tar (photo© Schwarz­mül­ler Group), owner of the Schwarz­mül­ler Group, also empha­si­zes the importance of the tran­sac­tion: “W&P initia­ted and prepared the part­ner­ship with the Krone Group in the best possi­ble way and thus made an important contri­bu­tion to streng­thening Schwarz­mül­ler”. Supported by exper­tise from Krone, the Schwarz­mül­ler Group will conti­nue to operate under the exis­ting manage­ment. Appr­oval of the invest­ment by the anti­trust autho­ri­ties is expec­ted in the near future.

W&P’s Christan Groschupp, Part­ner Debt & Capi­tal Advi­sory, Phil­ippe Piscol, Part­ner M&A, and Dr.-Ing. Dirk Artelt, Mana­ging Part­ner Indus­trial Goods, played a key role in the tran­sac­tion: “The trus­ting rela­ti­onship between two tradi­tio­nal family busi­nesses is the start­ing point for a strong part­ner­ship ‚” says Chris­tian Groschupp. The Schwarz­mül­ler Group brands will conti­nue to operate inde­pendently in order to main­tain an indi­vi­dual custo­mer approach.

Schwarz­mül­ler Group

The Schwarz­mül­ler Group is the largest Euro­pean niche supplier of trai­lers and bodies. The company builds more than 150 vehicle types with the aim of guaran­te­e­ing its custo­mers added value in the appli­ca­tion. In its long history since 1871, Schwarz­mül­ler has become the leading specia­list for indi­vi­dual trans­por­ta­tion solu­ti­ons. With vehicle types of the two brands Schwarz­mül­ler and Hüffer­mann, the group supplies the cons­truc­tion indus­try, infra­struc­ture compa­nies, the raw mate­ri­als and recy­cl­ables indus­try and long-distance trans­port compa­nies in 20 countries.

KRONE Commer­cial Vehicle Group

With 60,000 units produ­ced, the KRONE Commer­cial Vehicle Group is a major Euro­pean manu­fac­tu­rer of trai­lers and semi-trai­­lers for the trans­por­ta­tion indus­try and sees itself as a compre­hen­sive mobi­lity consul­tant. The Emsland-based family busi­ness covers the most important segments in road freight trans­port with its product range. At six plant loca­ti­ons with around 3,500 employees, the KRONE GROUP’s commer­cial vehicle divi­sion has deve­lo­ped signi­fi­cant core compe­ten­cies in the fields of digi­ta­liza­tion, auto­ma­tion, sustaina­bi­lity and elec­tri­fi­ca­tion, in addi­tion to its produc­tion exper­tise in semi-trai­­lers, axles and swap systems. The sales volume in the segment, which is made up of product and service sales, amounts to over EUR 2 billion (as at 2022/2023).

Dr. Wiesel­hu­ber & Partner

Dr. Wiesel­hu­ber & Part­ner (W&P) is the leading cross-indus­­try top manage­ment consul­tancy for family busi­nesses. She specia­li­zes in the entre­pre­neu­rial fields of stra­tegy, digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion, busi­ness perfor­mance and restruc­tu­ring & corpo­rate finance, which also includes (distres­sed) M&A. From its offices in Munich, Hamburg, Stutt­gart and Düssel­dorf, Dr. Wiesel­hu­ber & Part­ner offers its clients compre­hen­sive indus­try and metho­do­lo­gi­cal exper­tise with the aim of sustain­ably and perma­nently incre­asing the growth and compe­ti­ti­ve­ness, profi­ta­bi­lity and enter­prise value of its clients. www.wieselhuber.de