Avedon sells VanRiet to trade

The sale ends a four-year holding period for Avedon, which acquired the company for approximately €30m in May 2014.

Under Avedon's ownership, the company has doubled its headcount to 200 and tripled revenues to €120m.

The company doubled its production capacity in Houten, the Netherlands, and China, and opened new locations in Poland, the UK and the US.

Material Handling Systems is backed by North American private equity firm Thomas H Lee Partners, which invests across the business services, consumer, healthcare and CMT sectors.

The acquirer generated $1.2bn in revenues in 2017 and employs 195 people, according to its website.

Previous funding
Avedon acquired a majority stake in VanRiet in May 2014, drawing equity from the €190m NIBC Growth Capital Fund II. 

Company
Founded in 1948 and headquartered in Houten, the Netherlands, VanRiet manufactures handling systems for the production and distribution lines of companies. Products include manual sorting systems, automated storage and retrieval systems, conveyors and pallet transport systems.

VanRiet's customer base includes Amazon, Zalando and a number of parcel and express companies, tire manufacturers and other distribution firms. The company employs 200 staff and generated revenues of approximately €120m in 2017.

People
Avedon Capital Partners – Michel Verhoog, Gerritjan Eggenkamp (partners).
Material Handling Systems – Tony Mouser (CEO).
VanRiet – Rik van den Boog (CEO).

Advisers
Acquirer – PwC (tax); Kirkland & Ellis (legal).
Vendor – Baird (M&A); Allen & Overy (legal).

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