Author: Tatjana Anderer

Frank­furt a. M. — KKR’s take­over offer for a total of 87,007,448 Enca­vis shares was accepted in due time on June 18, 2024. This corre­sponds to appro­xi­m­ately 87.41 percent of all outstan­ding Enca­vis Shares, inclu­ding the Enca­vis Shares which ABACON and other share­hol­ders have sold to the Bidder under binding agree­ments or which will be trans­fer­red to the Bidder by way of a roll-over. KKR intends to complete the delis­ting of Enca­vis as soon as legally and prac­ti­cally possi­ble in order to bene­fit from the finan­cial flexi­bi­lity and long-term commit­ment of KKR and Viess­mann in private owner­ship. On March 14, 2024, the bidder announ­ced a volun­t­ary public take­over offer for all outstan­ding Enca­vis shares. Viess­mann is inves­t­ing as a share­hol­der in the consor­tium led by KKR. The volun­t­ary public take­over offer is still subject to the condi­ti­ons set out in sections 12.1.1, 12.1.3 (ii), (iv), (v) and 12.1.4 of the Offer Docu­ment. The tran­sac­tion is expec­ted to be comple­ted in the fourth quar­ter of 2024. The offer docu­ment and further infor­ma­tion are available at www.elbe-offer.com. In March 2024, the family-owned company Viess­mann, toge­ther with KKR, announ­ced a new stra­te­gic invest­ment in Enca­vis, one of the leading plat­forms for rene­wa­ble ener­gies based in Hamburg. As part of the tran­sac­tion, Viess­mann inves­ted as a share­hol­der in the KKR-led consor­tium. About KKR KKR is a leading global inves­tor provi­ding alter­na­tive asset manage­ment, capi­tal markets and insu­rance solu­ti­ons. The focus is on gene­ra­ting attrac­tive invest­ment returns through a long-term and disci­pli­ned invest­ment approach, employ­ing highly skil­led profes­sio­nals and support­ing growth at its invest­ment proper­ties and in the commu­ni­ties where KKR has a presence. KKR finan­ces funds that invest in private equity, credit products, real assets, and — through stra­te­gic part­ners — hedge funds. KKR’s insu­rance subsi­dia­ries offer pension, life and reinsu­rance products under the manage­ment of Global Atlan­tic Finan­cial Group. Refe­ren­ces to KKR’s invest­ments may also refer to the acti­vi­ties of funds mana­ged by KKR and its insu­rance subsi­dia­ries. KKR laun­ched its global infra­struc­ture busi­ness in 2008 and has since grown to become one of the largest infra­struc­ture inves­tors in the world with a team of more than 115 dedi­ca­ted invest­ment profes­sio­nals. The company curr­ently (as of Decem­ber 31, 2023) mana­ges infra­struc­ture assets of around USD 59 billion world­wide and has made over 80 infra­struc­ture invest­ments in a range of sub-sectors and regi­ons. KKR’s infra­struc­ture plat­form is speci­fi­cally desi­gned for long-term, capi­tal-inten­sive struc­tu­ral invest­ments. Further infor­ma­tion about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), can be found on the KKR website at www.kkr.com. For more infor­ma­tion about Global Atlan­tic Finan­cial Group, please visit the Global Atlan­tic Finan­cial Group website at www.globalatlantic.com. About Viess­mann Foun­ded in 1917, the inde­pen­dent family-owned company Viess­mann is today a global, broadly diver­si­fied group. All acti­vi­ties are based on the corpo­rate mission state­ment “We create living spaces for future gene­ra­ti­ons” — this is the passion and respon­si­bi­lity that drives the members of the large global Viess­mann family every day. In line with this goal, Viess­mann offers compa­nies and co-crea­tors an ecosys­tem that is commit­ted to avoi­ding, redu­cing and storing CO2 beyond the heating indus­try. About Enca­vis Enca­vis AG (Prime Stan­dard; ISIN: DE0006095003; ticker symbol: ECV) is a produ­cer of elec­tri­city from rene­wa­ble ener­gies listed on the MDAX of Deut­sche Börse AG. As one of the leading inde­pen­dent power produ­cers (IPP), Enca­vis acqui­res and opera­tes (onshore) wind and solar parks in twelve Euro­pean count­ries. The plants for sustainable energy gene­ra­tion gene­rate stable income through guaran­teed feed-in tariffs (FIT) or long-term power purchase agree­ments (PPAs). The Enca­vis Group’s total gene­ra­tion capa­city curr­ently amounts to more than 3.5 giga­watts (GW), of which around 2.2 GW is gene­ra­ted by Enca­vis AG, which corre­sponds to a saving of around 0.8 million tons of CO2 per year by Enca­vis AG alone. In addi­tion, the Group curr­ently has around 1.2 GW of gene­ra­tion capa­city under cons­truc­tion, inclu­ding around 830 MW in its own port­fo­lio. Within the Enca­vis Group, Enca­vis Asset Manage­ment AG specia­li­zes in the area of insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tors. Stern Energy S.p.A., which is also part of the Enca­vis Group and head­quar­te­red in Parma, Italy, is a specia­li­zed provi­der of tech­ni­cal services for the Europe-wide instal­la­tion, opera­tion, main­ten­ance, revam­ping and repowe­ring of photo­vol­taic systems. Enca­vis is a signa­tory to the UN Global Compact and the UN PRI network. Enca­vis AG’s envi­ron­men­tal, social and gover­nance perfor­mance has been reco­gni­zed by two of the world’s leading ESG rese­arch and rating agen­cies. MSCI ESG Ratings rates Enca­vis’ sustaina­bi­lity perfor­mance with an “AA” level, while the inter­na­tio­nally renow­ned ISS ESG awards Enca­vis “Prime” status. www.encavis.com  

Munich — KEYOU, the pioneer of CO2-neutral hydro­gen mobi­lity, has closed the first part of its Series B finan­cing round with a double-digit million amount. The finan­cing round is led by DILO Arma­tu­ren und Anla­gen GmbH, which has inves­ted a large seven-figure sum in KEYOU. Other inves­tors include the Euro­pean Inno­va­tion Coun­cil (EIC), the BESTO GmbH “Family Office” of the two Swabian entre­pre­neu­rial fami­lies Beyer and Stoll (FESTO indus­trial group) and Baywo­bau, which alre­ady inves­ted in KEYOU as part of the Series A finan­cing round. The funds will prima­rily be used to build up the pioneer fleet and to adapt the KEYOU-inside system to a 40-ton semi­t­rai­ler tractor.
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Follo­wing the successful conclu­sion of the first part of the finan­cing round, the Munich-based hydro­gen expert is alre­ady in talks with other poten­tial inves­tors. The Series B round, which is expec­ted to be comple­ted by the end of the year, is expec­ted to raise a total of around EUR 35 million. KEYOU intends to use the fresh capi­tal prima­rily to drive forward the expan­sion of its pionee­ring fleet, the further deve­lo­p­ment and adapt­a­tion of the KEYOU-inside system to a 40-ton arti­cu­la­ted truck for the commer­cial roll­out of its “H2Mobility as a Service” solu­tion (H2MaaS) and the further struc­tu­ral and person­nel expan­sion of the company. DILO is not only in the role of inves­tor, but is also laun­ching its first joint project with KEYOU.

With DILO, KEYOU has gained another important stra­te­gic inves­tor. The leading gas specia­list from Bava­ria deve­lops inte­gra­ted solu­ti­ons for profes­sio­nal, emis­sion-free gas manage­ment and intends to further expand its busi­ness acti­vi­ties in the promi­sing hydro­gen segment. The coope­ra­tion between the two compa­nies is corre­spon­din­gly promi­sing. The first concrete project coope­ra­tion has alre­ady begun. KEYOU is support­ing DILO with its H2 exper­tise in the deve­lo­p­ment of a univer­sal H2 service device for work­shops that reli­e­ves employees of all hydro­gen-rela­ted work. The aim of the deve­lo­p­ment is to qualify more work­shops to work with hydro­gen vehic­les and to conti­nuously expand the H2 work­shop network in line with the incre­asing number of vehic­les and hydro­gen regions.

In future, the H2 service tool will auto­mate basic service func­tions that could previously only be carried out by speci­ally trai­ned person­nel. Details of this device will be announ­ced at a later date. At the moment, DILO and KEYOU are only announ­cing that it will be a comple­tely new device with inno­va­tive func­tions that are not yet available on the market.

The human factor was a key factor

“We are deligh­ted to have found another inves­tor in DILO who belie­ves in the future of the combus­tion engine in combi­na­tion with hydro­gen and in our approach to conver­ting exis­ting vehic­les,” says Thomas Korn, CEO and co-foun­der of KEYOU. “Another major advan­tage is DILO’s many years of exper­tise in the field of indus­trial gases, which opens up valuable synergy poten­tial for us. In addi­tion, as with all our stra­te­gic inves­tors, it was important to us that the ‘human factor’ was right. This is defi­ni­tely the case with DILO.”

“The capi­tal increase from DILO and our exis­ting inves­tors will not only enable us to enter the market smoothly, but also to scale our tech­no­logy to other engine and vehicle clas­ses. This will enable us to work the market even more inten­si­vely in the future and further expand our tech­no­logy leader­ship,” adds Olaf Berg­ner, CFO of KEYOU (photo © Keyou).

DILO is also looking forward to the colla­bo­ra­tion: “With KEYOU, we are support­ing a future-orien­ted and inno­va­tive growth company that, as a pioneer in the field of emis­sion-free hydro­gen mobi­lity, fits in perfectly with us and our motto ‘One Vision. Zero Emis­si­ons’,” says Chris­tian Schel­ler, Mana­ging Direc­tor of DILO Arma­tu­ren und Anla­gen GmbH. “We are convin­ced that hydro­gen engi­nes are an important part of the solu­tion for the mobi­lity tran­si­tion, and that prag­ma­tic solu­ti­ons that enable the rapid and econo­mical decar­bo­niza­tion of the indus­try are parti­cu­larly in demand in the commer­cial vehicle sector.”

Market entry with 18-ton trucks, 40-ton trucks in preparation

KEYOU will deli­ver its first 18-ton pioneer vehic­les to pilot custo­mers this year and thus complete its market entry. This is the first time the company intends to demons­trate the market matu­rity of its conver­sion tech­no­logy and prepare the market for further scaling.

KEYOU is alre­ady working on larger motors to address the heavy-duty segment in the near future, as this is where the company sees the grea­test poten­tial in the coming years. A look at the TCO (total cost of owner­ship) of KEYOU’s 40-ton H2 truck shows that it is signi­fi­cantly chea­per than battery and fuel cell trucks simply due to econo­mies of scale and toll exemp­ti­ons. In the medium term, it will even under­cut the TCO of conven­tio­nal 40-ton diesel trucks.

www.keyou.de

Vöhrin­gen, Bava­ria — Foun­ded in 1975, SMG Sport­platz­ma­schi­nen­bau GmbH (www.smg-machines.com) has long since estab­lished itself as a global leader in the deve­lo­p­ment and manu­fac­ture of state-of-the-art machi­nes for the sports indus­try and is now used by teams such as Real Madrid, FC Bayern Munich and the Miami Dolphins. Toge­ther with Tobias and Daniel Owege­ser, who will remain share­hol­ders, Gimv will drive SMG’s further growth and inter­na­tio­nal expansion.

SMG’s impres­sive port­fo­lio includes specia­li­zed machi­nes that are used in a variety of sports and leisure areas — from arti­fi­cial or hybrid turf to athle­tics faci­li­ties and tennis courts. SMG has been a pioneer in the field of synthe­tic sports surfaces and arti­fi­cial turf for almost 50 years and offers machi­nes that mix various compon­ents, lay base layers and line their surfaces. Their inno­va­tive arti­fi­cial turf machi­nes are known for the filling, care and main­ten­ance of sports pitches and offer both self-propel­led models and models with ride-on technology.

The machi­nes are deve­lo­ped and produ­ced in Germany. To this end, SMG works closely with leading mate­rial manu­fac­tu­r­ers and instal­la­tion compa­nies to ensure the highest quality at all times. The company, which serves over 1,200 custo­mers world­wide, is supported by 55 dedi­ca­ted employees in Vöhrin­gen and an exten­sive network of inde­pen­dent sales part­ners world­wide. The USA is curr­ently SMG’s largest market, with renow­ned custo­mers such as colleges, univer­si­ties, high schools and Ameri­can foot­ball clubs.

The part­ner­ship with Gimv marks the start of the next phase of SMG’s remar­kable jour­ney. The exper­tise of Gimv as the new majo­rity share­hol­der will help to streng­then further inter­na­tio­nal growth in the coming years and take the products to the next level.

Daniel and Tobias Owege­ser, co-owners of SMG, explain: “We have alre­ady grown stron­gly in recent deca­des and have laid the foun­da­ti­ons for the successful expan­sion of our busi­ness, parti­cu­larly in the USA. Toge­ther with our father Johann and our brot­her Markus, we have deci­ded to bring a strong part­ner on board in order to successfully conti­nue our growth story. With Gimv at our side, we now want to take the next steps toge­ther towards further inter­na­tio­na­liza­tion and make targe­ted use of the many oppor­tu­ni­ties abroad.”

Ronald Bartel, Part­ner Smart Indus­tries (photo © GIMV), explains: “With SMG, we are deligh­ted to welcome an excep­tio­nal and impres­sive new addi­tion to our Smart Indus­tries plat­form. We are deeply convin­ced by the product, the owners and the manage­ment team and look forward to support­ing SMG on its growth path.”

About GIMV

Gimv is a Euro­pean invest­ment company listed on Euron­ext Brussels. As one of the market leaders, we are a part­ner to entre­pre­neu­rial and inno­va­tive compa­nies in 5 future-orien­ted invest­ment areas. We curr­ently manage a port­fo­lio of around 60 compa­nies with a total turno­ver of EUR 4.0 billion and more than 20,000 employees.

Gimv has been inves­t­ing in inno­va­tion and entre­pre­neur­ship for over 40 years. Our flexi­ble approach is based on a solid balance sheet, pati­ent capi­tal and a long-term perspec­tive. Gimv is commit­ted to crea­ting sustainable value by successfully combi­ning the strengths of entre­pre­neu­rial, ambi­tious and talen­ted manage­ment teams with our dedi­ca­ted, compe­tent and well-connec­ted invest­ment teams. www.gimv.com

Paris/ Frank­furt a. M. — Ardian, one of the world’s leading inde­pen­dent invest­ment compa­nies, has raised EUR 530 million for the third gene­ra­tion of its growth plat­form, the Ardian Growth Fund III. In a chal­len­ging fund­rai­sing envi­ron­ment, the fund closed above the target figure of EUR 500 million, more than doubling the volume compared to its prede­ces­sor gene­ra­tion, which closed in 2018 with EUR 230 million.

The successful fund­rai­sing is the result of a clearly diver­si­fied LP base in terms of inves­tor type and global origin. In addi­tion, there was a high level of parti­ci­pa­tion from exis­ting inves­tors in the prede­ces­sor fund. The Ardian Growth Fund III recei­ved commit­ments from inves­tors in 12 count­ries, inclu­ding major banks and insu­rance compa­nies, entre­pre­neurs, pension funds and govern­ment insti­tu­ti­ons. The parti­ci­pa­tion of almost 120 entre­pre­neurs is parti­cu­lar proof of inves­tors’ confi­dence in the team and its ability to iden­tify high-quality invest­ments and successfully manage their growth.

Buil­ding on the expe­ri­ence gained in previous fund gene­ra­ti­ons, the Growth team will conti­nue to draw on its powerful sourcing network across conti­nen­tal Europe to iden­tify profi­ta­ble, fast-growing compa­nies. The fund will conti­nue to pursue a sector-focu­sed invest­ment stra­tegy in the target indus­tries of the digi­tal economy (e.g. soft­ware, web and tech­no­logy-orien­ted compa­nies), specia­li­zed B2B service provi­ders and compa­nies from the health and well­ness sector, parti­cu­larly those that bene­fit from the digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion and contri­bute to the disrup­tion of tradi­tio­nal value chains in their sector.

“Our approach has always been about more than provi­ding capi­tal: we work inten­si­vely with entre­pre­neurs to acce­le­rate their busi­ness growth, realize their ambi­ti­ons and expand their inter­na­tio­nal foot­print. The current market envi­ron­ment offers some of the most exci­ting oppor­tu­ni­ties for growth invest­ments in the past 20 years, espe­ci­ally given the scale and speed of digi­ta­liza­tion. Our team of experts brings world-class exper­tise and in-depth indus­try know­ledge to support manage­ment teams in their growth. We have alre­ady made three invest­ments from the fund and will make further invest­ments based on our unique sourcing capa­bi­li­ties to support compa­nies in the next phase of their growth,” said Alexis Saada, Head of Growth & Senior Mana­ger at ARDIAN.

The fund has alre­ady inves­ted around 25 percent of its capi­tal in three tran­sac­tions, inclu­ding Théra­dial, a leading provi­der of dialy­sis solu­ti­ons in its sector, My Pie, an inno­va­tive snack­ing concept, and Aprium Phar­macie, a phar­macy fran­chise company.

The fund complies with Article 8 of the EU Disclo­sure Regu­la­tion (SFDR) and inte­gra­tes sustaina­bi­lity aspects into its stra­tegy in order to create long-term value for all stakeholders.

The Ardian Growth team has more than 20 years of expe­ri­ence in inves­t­ing in the Euro­pean growth market and curr­ently consists of four part­ners in a team of 14 invest­ment profes­sio­nals. It mana­ges total assets of one billion euros and has supported more than 120 compa­nies since 1998.

About ARDIAN

Ardian is a leading global inde­pen­dent invest­ment firm. The company mana­ges or advi­ses assets tota­ling around US$ 164 billion for more than 1,600 inves­tors world­wide. Thanks to its exten­sive exper­tise in private equity, real assets and credit, Ardian offers a wide range of invest­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties as well as custo­mi­zed invest­ment solu­ti­ons — tail­o­red to inves­tors’ needs: Ardian Custo­mi­zed Solu­ti­ons enables insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tors to access best-in-class mana­gers across all asset clas­ses through a custo­mi­zed port­fo­lio. Ardian Private Wealth Solu­ti­ons also offers a range of services speci­fi­cally geared to high net worth indi­vi­du­als. Ardian’s employees are also the company’s largest share­hol­der group.

Ardian atta­ches great importance to their deve­lo­p­ment, as well as a culture of coope­ra­tion based on an active exch­ange of know­ledge and expe­ri­ence. The more than 1,050 employees at 19 office loca­ti­ons in Europe, North and South America, Asia and the Middle East follow the prin­ci­ples of respon­si­ble invest­ment. Ardian’s mission is to make a posi­tive contri­bu­tion to society through its invest­ments and to create value that lasts. Ardian aims to deli­ver excel­lent returns in line with high ethi­cal stan­dards and social respon­si­bi­lity. At Ardian, ever­yone is dedi­ca­ted to buil­ding successful compa­nies for the long term.

www.ardian.com