VR Equitypartner subsidiary solectrix merges with ASSDEV

Frank­furt a. M. / Fürth / Forch­heim — The solec­trix Group, a port­fo­lio company of Fran­k­­furt-based invest­ment company VR Equi­typ­art­ner, and the ASSDEV Group are joining forces to form a leading full-service part­ner for high-end elec­tro­nic solu­ti­ons. The merger combi­nes solectrix’s exper­tise in the design of inno­va­tive embedded systems with ASSDEV’s know-how in the produc­tion of complex and sophisti­ca­ted elec­tro­nic assem­blies and elec­tro­nic systems. The new group will have around 250 employees and an annual turno­ver of over 40 million euros. The tran­sac­tion is subject to regu­la­tory appr­ovals and is expec­ted to be comple­ted this year. Foun­ded in Fürth in 2005, solec­trix GmbH deve­lops high-end elec­tro­nic solu­ti­ons for appli­ca­ti­ons in medi­cal tech­no­logy, imaging, auto­mo­tive and indus­try. The service port­fo­lio includes concep­tual design, hard­ware, soft­ware and FPGA deve­lo­p­ment through to proto­ty­pes and small series produc­tion, which is carried out intern­ally by solec­trix systems GmbH at the Fürth site. VR Equi­typ­art­ner has held a mino­rity stake in solec­trix since 2021 and supports the three company foun­ders in their growth stra­tegy and in conso­li­da­ting their market posi­tion as inno­va­tion leaders. The focus here is prima­rily on the ongo­ing deve­lo­p­ment of high-quality inno­va­tive tech­no­lo­gies and solu­ti­ons such as FPGAs, AI, camera systems and high-end hard­ware, which are incor­po­ra­ted into custo­mers’ product inno­va­tions and thus give them a compe­ti­tive edge. ASSDEV GmbH, also foun­ded in 2005 and based in Forch­heim, is a full-service part­ner for the produc­tion of highly complex and safety-rele­­vant elec­tro­nic systems, which are used in parti­cu­lar in energy tech­no­logy, rail­road tech­no­logy, IoT gate­ways, tele­ma­tics and indus­try. Over 100 employees at the Forch­heim site produce complex and sophisti­ca­ted elec­tro­nic assem­blies and elec­tro­nic systems using state-of-the-art manu­fac­tu­ring and test­ing tech­no­lo­gies. The subsi­diary AST‑X GmbH deve­lops pionee­ring hard­ware and soft­ware solu­ti­ons in the fields of energy, mobi­lity and IoT (wire­less tech­no­lo­gies). As part of the merger, the co-foun­­ders, the Leicht family, are with­dra­wing from the ASSDEV share­hol­der group, although the co-foun­­der and previous Mana­ging Direc­tor Hans Hofmann will conti­nue to play a leading role in the new group and signi­fi­cantly reinvest in the company. The solec­trix foun­ding part­ners and mana­ging direc­tors Lars Helbig, Stefan Schütz and Jürgen Stei­nert as well as VR Equi­typ­art­ner will retain a stake in the group. The compa­nies will conti­nue to operate on the market under the names solec­trix, solec­trix Systems, ASSDEV and AST‑X. The manage­ment of the new group will consist of Lars Helbig, Stefan Schütz and Jürgen Stei­nert as well as Hans Hofmann. 

Hans Hofmann, Mana­ging Direc­tor of ASSDEV GmbH and AST‑X GmbH, says: “We are deligh­ted to be opening a new chap­ter in the history of both compa­nies. We have known and appre­cia­ted each other perso­nally and commer­ci­ally for many years — now what belongs toge­ther is coming toge­ther. A joint market presence and the combi­na­tion of our exper­tise is the best of both worlds and makes us a real house of compe­tence for our custo­mers.” Chris­tian Futter­lieb, Mana­ging Direc­tor of VR Equi­typ­art­ner, adds: “solec­trix and ASSDEV cover comple­men­tary market segments: solec­trix in the field of high-end elec­tro­nics deve­lo­p­ment and ASSDEV with high-quality EMS produc­tion and deve­lo­p­ment of indus­trial solu­ti­ons for safety-rele­­vant areas. We see great poten­tial in this combi­na­tion, which bene­fits from the strong trends towards one-stop shop­ping and the growing demand for inte­gra­ted solu­ti­ons. We look forward to working toge­ther with Mr. Hofmann and the employees of ASSDEV and AST‑X.” Jürgen Stei­nert, Mana­ging Direc­tor of solec­trix GmbH, empha­si­zes: “As share­hol­ders and manage­ment, we have deve­lo­ped solec­trix toge­ther with our part­ner VR Equi­typ­art­ner into a strong and successful inno­va­tion leader. Future tech­no­logy, custo­mer and employee orien­ta­tion are at the fore­front for us as a full-bloo­­ded deve­lo­per. The merger with ASSDEV and AST‑X is an important step for the future of the company and the right time to combine the comple­men­tary strengths of both groups. Lars Helbig, Stefan Schütz and I are deligh­ted that the success story of solec­trix will conti­nue hand in hand with ASSDEV.” VR Equi­typ­art­ner at a glance

VR Equi­typ­art­ner is one of the leading equity finan­ciers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

The company supports medium-sized family busi­nesses in a goal-orien­­ted manner and with deca­des of expe­ri­ence in the stra­te­gic solu­tion of complex finan­cing issues. Invest­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties include growth and expan­sion finan­cing, corpo­rate succes­sion or share­hol­der chan­ges. VR Equi­typ­art­ner offers majo­rity and mino­rity invest­ments as well as mezza­nine finan­cing. As a subsi­diary of DZ BANK, the central insti­tu­tion of the coope­ra­tive banks in Germany, VR Equi­typ­art­ner consis­t­ently puts the sustaina­bi­lity of corpo­rate deve­lo­p­ment ahead of short-term exit thin­king. VR Equitypartner’s port­fo­lio curr­ently compri­ses around 40 commit­ments with an invest­ment volume of EUR 400 million. Further infor­ma­tion can be found at www.vrep.de. The VR Equi­typ­art­ner tran­sac­tion team :
Klaus Schnei­der, Zhao­hua Liao-Weißert, Ömer Kaya, Frank Wilden­berg, Dr. Clau­dia Willershausen 

Consul­ting firms invol­ved in the tran­sac­tion by VR Equitypartner:

Legal & Tax Due Dili­gence & Tax Struc­tu­ring, Finan­cing: McDer­mott Will & Emery Rechts­an­wälte Steu­er­be­ra­ter (Dr. Michael Cziesla, Dr. Chris­tian Marz­lin, Dr. Heiko Kermer, Marcus Fischer, Ludwig Zesch) Heiko Kermer, Marcus Fischer, Ludwig Zesch) Finan­cial due dili­gence & company valua­tion: Baker Tilly WPG (Nils Klamar, Björn Prawetz, Max Bracht) Commer­cial due dili­gence: Blue­mont Consul­ting (Markus Frän­kel, Sascha Voll­mer­hau­sen, Kilian Hornung) Anti­trust advice: Lupp + Part­ner (Tilman Siebert)