DBAG acquires majority stake of €100 million in ELF Capital Group

Frank­furt a. M. / Berlin — Deut­sche Betei­li­gungs AG (DBAG) enters into a part­ner­ship with ELF Capi­tal Group (ELF Capi­tal), thus expan­ding its range of flexi­ble finan­cing solu­ti­ons for medium-sized compa­nies to include private debt. To this end, DBAG has acqui­red a majo­rity stake in ELF Capi­tal, which includes ELF Capi­tal Advi­sory GmbH, based in Frank­furt am Main. The terms of the tran­sac­tion were not disc­lo­sed to the extent legally possible.

ELF Capi­tal Advi­sory GmbH advi­ses funds offe­ring flexi­ble private debt finan­cing for estab­lished, market-leading medium-sized compa­nies with a geogra­phi­cal focus on the DACH region, Bene­lux and Scan­di­na­via. The part­ner­ship with DBAG offers both compa­nies the poten­tial to gene­rate rapid and sustainable growth and to realize synergies.

DBAG intends to invest EUR 100 million in the ELF Capi­tal funds as a limi­ted part­ner, simi­lar to DBAG’s usual stra­tegy of co-inves­­t­ing along­side DBAG funds. Further­more, to gradu­ally increase its stake in ELF Capi­tal to 100% over the coming years.

ELF Capi­tal is a leading German provi­der of private debt finan­cing and advi­ses funds offe­ring flexi­ble finan­cing solu­ti­ons for medium-sized compa­nies in the DACH region, Bene­lux and Scan­di­na­via. Through the merger, DBAG expands its range of flexi­ble finan­cing solu­ti­ons for SMEs to include private debt. Further­more, DABG will parti­ci­pate in the ELF Capi­tal Funds at €100 million as a limi­ted part­ner. This is in line with DBAG’s usual stra­tegy of making co-inves­t­­ments along­side its own funds.

As part of the part­ner­ship, the foun­der and Mana­ging Part­ner of ELF Capi­tal Advi­sory GmbH, Chris­tian Frit­sch, as well as Mana­ging Part­ner Florian Wimpff will conti­nue to be respon­si­ble for the private debt invest­ment busi­ness and actively drive the company’s deve­lo­p­ment. ELF Capi­tal Advi­sory GmbH will in future be supported by the two DBAG board members Tom Alzin (© DBAG) and Jannick Hune­cke and will at the same time bene­fit from DBAG’s opera­tio­nal and finan­cial resour­ces, inves­tor rela­ti­ons and network.

The addi­tion of private debt finan­cing solu­ti­ons to DBAG’s offe­ring requi­res an expan­sion of DBAG’s corpo­rate purpose. The Manage­ment Board of DBAG will submit the corre­spon­ding amend­ment to the Artic­les of Asso­cia­tion to the Annual Gene­ral Meeting of DBAG for resolution.

About DBAG

Deut­sche Betei­li­gungs AG (DBAG), listed on the stock exch­ange since 1985, is one of the most renow­ned private equity compa­nies in Germany. As an inves­tor and fund advi­sor, DBAG’s invest­ment focus has tradi­tio­nally been on medium-sized compa­nies with a focus on well-posi­­tio­­ned compa­nies with deve­lo­p­ment poten­tial, prima­rily in the DACH region. The indus­try focus is on manu­fac­tu­ring compa­nies, indus­trial service provi­ders and Indus­try­Tech compa­nies — i.e. compa­nies whose products enable auto­ma­tion, robo­tics and digi­tiza­tion — as well as compa­nies from the broad­band tele­com­mu­ni­ca­ti­ons, IT services, soft­ware and health­care sectors. Since 2020, DBAG has also been repre­sen­ted in Italy with its own office in Milan. Assets mana­ged or advi­sed by the DBAG Group amount to appro­xi­m­ately € 2.5 billion (before transaction).

Advi­sor DBAG: YPOG 

Andreas Rodin (Lead, Funds), Asso­cia­ted Part­ner, Berlin Dr. Malte Berg­mann (Tax), Part­ner, Hamburg
Dr. Tammo Lüken (Tax), Part­ner, Hamburg, Dr. Niklas Ulrich (Funds), Senior Asso­ciate, Hamburg Lukas Schmitt (Tax), Asso­ciate, Hamburg, Benja­min von Mangoldt (Funds), Asso­ciate, Berlin Dr. Phil­ipp Busch (Funds), Asso­ciate, Hamburg