Author: Tatjana Anderer

Hano­ver — NORD Holding Unter­neh­mens­be­tei­li­gungs­ge­sell­schaft mbH (“NORD Holding”) has sold its shares in the RUF Group (“the Company”), one of the leading German suppli­ers of high-quality uphols­te­red and box-spring beds. The buyer is the invest­ment company Water­land Private Equity (“Water­land”). Details of the tran­sac­tion were not disclosed.

The RUF Group, based in Rastatt (RUF Betten) and Berlin (BRUNO Inte­rior), is a leading supplier of high-quality uphols­te­red and box-spring beds with a history span­ning almost 100 years. The company designs and manu­fac­tures uphols­te­red and box-spring beds, mattres­ses and access­ories, which are sold both in direct eCom­merce trade with its own online store and through statio­nary furni­ture stores or online stores of retail­ers in Germany and other EU count­ries. The products are marke­ted under two successful brands RUF Betten and BRUNO, each cove­ring diffe­rent custo­mer groups and price segments. With its 200 well-trai­ned employees, the RUF Group gene­ra­ted sales of appro­xi­m­ately EUR 60 million in 2020.

NORD Holding iden­ti­fied the RUF Group as a compel­ling invest­ment oppor­tu­nity and acqui­red the company in 2016 as part of a carve-out from the family-run Hüls Group. NORD Holding was able to build on its strong track record as a private equity inves­tor in succes­sion situa­tions and carve-outs.

In close coope­ra­tion with the commit­ted manage­ment team of the company, important deve­lo­p­ment steps of the RUF Group could be initia­ted and accom­pa­nied by NORD Holding:
Estab­lish a multi-brand stra­tegy to diver­sify custo­mer groups and price segments. Expan­sion of the supply chain, Targe­ted acqui­si­tion of the eCom­merce company BRUNO Inte­rior to build a multi-chan­nel stra­tegy. Prio­ri­tiza­tion of the digi­tiza­tion of the RUF Group in order to be able to offer digi­tal product support with the product confi­gu­ra­tor, among other things, and to better accom­pany the custo­mer jour­ney. Inter­na­tio­nal expan­sion by exten­ding geogra­phi­cal presence and licen­sing in Asian markets.

Ronald Grott, Member of the Execu­tive Board of NORD Holding:
“We are very proud of the growth and success that RUF Group has achie­ved over the last five years. This invest­ment is a great exam­ple of NORD Holding’s stra­tegy to support high quality compa­nies from the DACH region and manage­ment teams to expand inter­na­tio­nally and drive growth through trans­for­ma­tive M&A. We have no doubt that the RUF Group and its nearly 200 employees will conti­nue to deve­lop posi­tively under Waterland’s leader­ship. We would like to thank them all for their achie­ve­ments and wish them every success in the future.”

“Thanks to support from NORD Holding, we have been able to deve­lop excel­lently in recent years. Toge­ther with Water­land, we want to take this deve­lo­p­ment to the next level. We are looking forward to the coope­ra­tion and new, inno­va­tive ways,” says Heiner Goos­sens, Mana­ging Direc­tor of RUF Betten.

“Through the new part­ner­ship, we see even more value levers, espe­ci­ally in the area of D2C, also inter­na­tio­nally. We look forward to further streng­thening the BRUNO and RUF brands toge­ther with Water­land in the coming years,” adds Dr. Felix Baer, Mana­ging Direc­tor of BRUNO.

“RUF Betten has a broad, loyal custo­mer base, an ambi­tious work­force and expe­ri­en­ced manage­ment. With BRUNO, the group is also excel­lently posi­tio­ned in the direct-to-consu­mer segment and has been able to steadily gain market share in recent years,” explains Dr. Cars­ten Rahlfs, Mana­ging Part­ner at Water­land. “We intend to expand this growth path through orga­nic momen­tum and further acqui­si­ti­ons in the coming years. We look forward to a successful partnership.”

NORD Holding (repre­sen­ted by Ronald Grott and Moritz Stolp) was advi­sed on the tran­sac­tion by IMAP (M&A); CMS (Legal); KPMG (Finan­cial and Tax) and ERM (ESG).

About Water­land
Water­land is an inde­pen­dent private equity invest­ment firm that helps compa­nies realize their growth plans. With substan­tial finan­cial support and indus­try exper­tise, Water­land enables its port­fo­lio compa­nies to achieve acce­le­ra­ted growth both orga­ni­cally and through acqui­si­ti­ons. Water­land has offices in the Nether­lands (Bussum), Belgium (Antwerp), France (Paris), Germany (Hamburg, Munich), Poland (Warsaw), the UK (London, Manches­ter), Ireland (Dublin), Denmark (Copen­ha­gen), Spain (Barce­lona) and Switz­er­land (Zurich). Curr­ently, over nine billion euros in equity funds are under management.

Water­land has consis­t­ently outper­for­med with its invest­ments since its incep­tion in 1999. The firm ranks fifth globally in the 2020 HEC/Dow Jones Private Equity Perfor­mance Rankings and eighth among global private equity firms in the 2020 Preqin Consis­tent Perfor­mers in Global Private Equity & Venture Capi­tal Report. In addi­tion, Real Deals awarded Water­land the title of Pan-Euro­pean House of the Year 2020 at the PE Awards. www.waterland.de

About NORD Holding
With a history of more than 50 years and assets under manage­ment of € 2.5 billion, NORD Holding is one of the leading private equity asset manage­ment compa­nies in Germany. The focus is on the invest­ment areas of direct invest­ments and funds of funds. The focus of the direct busi­ness is on the struc­tu­ring and finan­cing of corpo­rate succes­sion models, the acqui­si­tion of group divisions/subsidiaries and expan­sion finan­cing for medium-sized compa­nies. Unlike most other finan­cial inves­tors who manage funds for a limi­ted period of time, NORD Holding opera­tes as a so-called “ever­green fund” with no time limit and invests off the balance sheet. Curr­ently, the company is directly inves­ted in more than 15 compa­nies in Germany and other German-spea­king count­ries. The other Fund Invest­ments busi­ness unit targets the small-cap segment of the Euro­pean private equity market and focu­ses on primary, secon­dary and co-invest­ments. In addi­tion, NORD Holding focu­ses on buyout mana­gers newly estab­lished in the market, opera­tio­nal invest­ment stra­te­gies and regu­larly acts as an anchor inves­tor. www.nordholding.de

Zurich/Bern — The tradi­tion-rich Sihl Group, head­quar­te­red in Oster­mun­di­gen, Bern, in the port­fo­lio of the invest­ment company Equis­tone since 2016, has acqui­red Dietz­gen Corpo­ra­tion from Tampa in the US state of Florida. This will make the globally active specia­list for the coating and finis­hing of papers, films and fabrics a leading supplier of coated high-end print media in the USA, where it will gain major logi­sti­cal advantages.

Sihl can look back on well over a hundred years of company history and, with sites in Switz­er­land, Germany and the USA, specia­li­zes in the coating and finis­hing of papers, films and fabrics for an inter­na­tio­nal custo­mer base. The successful supplier of inno­va­tive premium coatings in the high-growth digi­tal prin­ting market employs more than 350 people and supplies part­ners in a wide range of indus­tries — from auto­mo­tive to logi­stics and tourism to pack­a­ging. In mid-2016, funds advi­sed by Equis­tone acqui­red a majo­rity stake in the Group.

With the subsi­diary Sihl Inc. loca­ted in Fiske­ville in the US state of Rhode Island as a proces­sing and distri­bu­tion center, Sihl has an alre­ady strong posi­tion in the North and South Ameri­can markets. The product range extends from CAD media and synthe­tic print carri­ers to prin­ta­ble wall­pa­pers and flexi­ble pack­a­ging films. The invest­ment in Dietz­gen, a well-known provi­der of proces­sing and distri­bu­tion services for digi­tal print media such as papers, films and texti­les, will now signi­fi­cantly expand the company’s posi­tion in the US market. The priva­tely held company, foun­ded in 1989, has an exten­sive dealer network and is known for just-in-time deli­veries nati­on­wide thanks to exten­sive inven­tory in six parti­cu­larly conve­ni­ent loca­ti­ons. Its media brands Dietz­gen (CAD and Repro appli­ca­ti­ons), Magic (Signage), Museo (Photo and Fine­Art) and Vali­da­tion (Proof) are well established.

Combine strengths with excep­tio­nal offer

The acqui­si­tion of Dietz­gen marks an important mile­stone in the stra­te­gic deve­lo­p­ment of the Sihl Group and is also the first acqui­si­tion since the parti­ci­pa­tion of Equis­tone. “This add-on invest­ment not only streng­thens Sihl Group’s market posi­tion in the US quite signi­fi­cantly, but also impro­ves the frame­work condi­ti­ons for logi­stics and distri­bu­tion at the same time — the bene­fits for both sides cannot be over­loo­ked,” said Stefan Maser, Mana­ging Direc­tor and Part­ner at Equis­tone. “Toge­ther with manage­ment, we intend to leverage the addi­tio­nal tail­wind and shared exper­tise to drive growth and create syner­gies not only in the Ameri­cas,” added Equis­tone Direc­tor David Zahnd.

“This tran­sac­tion rein­forces our vision of being the leading provi­der of high-end coated print media in the U.S.,” said Peter K. Wahs­ner, CEO of Sihl Group. “Combi­ning Dietzgen’s conver­ting, logi­stics and distri­bu­tion capa­bi­li­ties with Sihl’s inno­va­tive products and level of service crea­tes an excep­tio­nal offe­ring for our custo­mers. The new plat­form not only allows us to drive growth in our estab­lished markets, but also to expand our flexi­ble pack­a­ging busi­ness in the U.S. thanks to Dietzgen’s stra­te­gi­cally loca­ted sites.” Dietz­gen Corpo­ra­tion CEO Darren Letang also welco­mes the invest­ment: “This is a great move. Our combi­ned strengths create a unique oppor­tu­nity for both compa­nies and their custo­mers. My manage­ment team and I look forward to the future in the Sihl Group.”

Respon­si­ble for the tran­sac­tion on the part of Equis­tone Part­ners Europe are Stefan Maser (photo), David Zahnd and Roman E. Hegglin.
Equis­tone was advi­sed on this tran­sac­tion by Bär & Karrer (Legal CH, Struc­tu­ring, Tax), Munich Stra­tegy (Commer­cial), Deloitte (Finan­cial) and Wuersch & Gering (Legal and Tax US). The parties have agreed not to disc­lose the purchase price.

About Equis­tone Part­ners Europe
Equis­tone Part­ners Europe is one of the most active Euro­pean equity inves­tors with a team of more than 40 invest­ment specia­lists in seven offices in Germany, Switz­er­land, the Nether­lands, France and the UK. Equis­tone prima­rily invests in estab­lished medium-sized compa­nies with a good market posi­tion, above-average growth poten­tial and an enter­prise value of between EUR 50 and 500 million. Since its foun­da­tion, equity has been inves­ted in around 170 tran­sac­tions in the DACH region and the Nether­lands, mainly mid-market buy-outs. The port­fo­lio curr­ently compri­ses around 50 compa­nies across Europe, inclu­ding 20 active holdings in Germany, Switz­er­land, the Nether­lands and Belgium. Equis­tone is curr­ently inves­t­ing from its sixth fund, which closed in March 2018 with €2.8 billion.

For more infor­ma­tion, visit www.equistone.ch

About Sihl — SIMPLY THE BETTER SOLUTION
The Sihl Group is the leading quality supplier of prin­ta­ble media in the fast-growing global digi­tal prin­ting market. The exten­sive range includes inno­va­tive premium papers for photo and fine art prin­ting, large-format media for inkjet and laser prin­ting, as well as ther­mal paper and self-adhe­sive products. Sihl also produ­ces coated papers and films for indus­trial appli­ca­ti­ons. As a high-perfor­mance, inter­na­tio­nally active company, Sihl has crucial tech­no­lo­gi­cal know-how and broad, in-depth indus­try exper­tise. The Group streng­thens the market posi­tion of its custo­mers with future-proof product solu­ti­ons and makes a decisive contri­bu­tion to impro­ving value crea­tion with inno­va­tive, process-support­ing services. Sihl manu­fac­tures in compli­ance with all ecolo­gi­cal, legal, social and occu­pa­tio­nal safety standards.

For more infor­ma­tion, visit www.sihl.com

Munich — EQT Ventures leads a Euro 12 million finan­cing round at Berlin-based online plat­form Time­l­ess, through which shares of luxury goods and coll­ec­ti­bles can be sold and traded. In addi­tion to EQT Ventures, other backers include Porsche Ventures, C3 EOS VC (FinLab EOS VC Fund) and La Roca Capi­tal. — CEO Jan Karnath foun­ded the company in 2018 toge­ther with Andreas Joeb­ges (CTO) and Malte Häus­ler (CFO). They laun­ched the plat­form Time­l­ess in Febru­ary 2021.

Time­l­ess, a brand of Berlin-based New Hori­zon GmbH, is a digi­tal plat­form for selling and trading shares in luxury goods and memo­ra­bi­lia through toke­niza­tion, provi­ding access to this asset class for a broad base of retail inves­tors. The company is thus making the market for rare coll­ec­ti­bles — inclu­ding watches, art, vehic­les, snea­k­ers and wine — acces­si­ble to ever­yone, using block­chain tech­no­logy to docu­ment digi­tal tran­sac­tions in a relia­ble, traceable and secure way. Users can buy and trade shares start­ing at 50 euros via the Time­l­ess app.

EQT Ventures is the venture capi­tal fund of EQT, a purpose-driven global invest­ment orga­niza­tion. EQT Ventures invests in fast-growing, inno­va­tive and tech­no­logy-driven compa­nies in all sectors world­wide, with a focus on Europe and the US.

The DLA Piper team was led by part­ner Andreas Füch­sel (Private Equity/M&A, Frank­furt). The core team included Senior Asso­ciate Domi­nik Wege­ner (Corporate/M&A, Hamburg) and Asso­ciate Phil­ipp Meyer (Private Equity/M&A), and also included Part­ner Dennis Kunschke (Finance), Coun­sel Miray Kavruk (IPT), Senior Asso­cia­tes Elena Bach­mann (Finance), Juliane Poss (Capi­tal Markets, all Frank­furt), Florian Jeske (Employ­ment), Asso­cia­tes David Sanchio Schele (Data Protec­tion, both Hamburg) and Theresa Schenk (Capi­tal Markets, Frankfurt).

About DLA Piper

DLA Piper is one of the world’s leading commer­cial law firms, with offices in more than 40 count­ries in Africa, Asia, Austra­lia, Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America. In Germany, DLA Piper is repre­sen­ted by more than 250 lawy­ers at its offices in Frank­furt, Hamburg, Colo­gne and Munich. In certain juris­dic­tions, this infor­ma­tion may be conside­red attor­ney adver­ti­sing. For more infor­ma­tion, visit: www.dlapiper.com