FAZ : The Quandts are in sales

An affiliate of the Harald-Quandt Group is silvering their companies. So she wants to come to funds for a new fund. Half a billion euro is mentioned.
Die industrialist Quandt family provides other companies in the window: According to information from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has the investment company Equita HQ in which the Harald Quandt family brings their business with investments, put two of them for sale. On the one hand the mechanical engineer Rovema: For this the investor commissioned the fusion advisory Alantra, can be heard in branch circles. Provisional bids were received last week. On the other hand HQ Equita wants to sell Kolbe-Coloco. For this, Unicredit had received the advisory mandate.

As a result, this investment vehicle of the Harald-Quandt Group continues to spoil its portfolio. HQ Equita specializes in medium-sized companies in the German-speaking countries and is part of the asset manager HQ Capital. About him, descendants of Harald Quandt's family assets, which were deceased in 1967, invest in private equity and real estate. Funds from external donors are also welcome.

Last year sold four companies

This year, HQ Equita has already sold Isolite, a car supplier, to Hitachi Chemical, as well as the sausage pellet producer Walsrode Casings, which went to the American competitor Viskase. Last year, HQ Equity sold four companies. This means that there are only five investments in the portfolio - and two of them are now entering the market: Rovema and Kolbe-Coloco.

As far as Rovema is concerned, the short halftrack falls. HQ Quandt had acquired the majority of the company from the forest in 2015. Thomas Becker, the company's managing director, remained "significantly involved", as he said. Founded in 1957, the company manufactures packaging machines and systems, for example for the food industry.

When HQ acquired Equita Rovema, the turnover for 2014 was stated at 70 million euros. As can be seen from informed circles, Rovema is targeting a turnover of just under 100 million euros for the current year, as well as a 15 percent margin based on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). A number of private equity companies and industrial companies have been addressed; the deadline for preliminary ("indicative") bids ended late last week.

Collect funds for a new money pot

Kolbe-Coloco, acquired in 2008, is significantly smaller than Rovema. In sectors of the economy, 30 million euros is the target of a yearly turnover and a double-digit EBITDA margin. The company supplies print media and other customers, such as cigarette packs and wine bottle labels.

HQ Equita uses the humming transaction market with its series of sales and sales. The prices - measured as multiples of Ebitda - have risen sharply, boosted by the austerity policy of the central banks. However, experts report that HQ Equita is also interested in the market. The company is primarily interested in "primary transactions": those in which a company does not change from one investor to the next.

An industry connoisseur suggested that HQ Equita wants to prove itself with the many sales as an investor, because the company just funds funds for a new fund. As a matter of fact, it collects funds for a new money pot, which is limited in time by the traditional private equity method and is to replace an evergreen fund. Apparently 400 to 500 million euros are striving for. HQ Equita has already used the first funds from this pot for the acquisition of the sports food provider WellPlus Trade. Since its founding in 1992, the private equity firm has hitherto invested about one billion euros. HQ Equity declined to comment on the transactions and the fund.