DBAG buys Netzkontor Nord

Oscar Geen
15 January 2018

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Deutsche Beteiligungs AG (DBAG) has acquired a majority stake in telecommunications service provider Netzkontor Nord for an undisclosed sum.

DBAG made a €4.6m co-investment from its balance sheet alongside DBAG ECF First New Vintage (DBAG ECF I), which generally makes equity investments between €10-30m.

DBAG ECF I is the latest iteration of DBAG's growth equity strategy and began its latest investment period in 2017. Commitments to the fund are renewed every two years at the start of each vintage and the current one will run until December 2018. The fund currently has €85m in committed capital, which corresponds to a fund size of around €270m over its projected investment period of five years.

The fund has invested 25% of the committed capital in two investments so far. The first was Denmark-based turbine components manufacturer Sjølund.

Netzkontor expects to benefit from government investment in, and subsidies for expansion of, fibre-optic infrastructure.

The company also plans to expand regionally and diversify its customer base, including by way of acquisitions.

Company
Netzkontor was founded in 2008 and operates in two different business segments with around 100 employees. The Netzkontor brand offers a range of services relating to the planning and supervision of fibre-optic network construction. Its subsidiary OpenXS handles network management for operators of fibre-optic networks.

Netzkontor currently focuses on the region of Schleswig-Holstein, where it maintains two further locations in addition to its headquarters in Flensburg. In 2017, Netzkontor generated sales of approximately €8m.

People
Deutsche Beteiligungs AG – Thorsten Grede (spokesperson for board).
Netzkontor Nord – Peter Schmidt (managing partner).

Advisers
Equity – Bird & Bird, Peter Leube (legal); PwC, Peter Gröninger (financial due diligence); Alke Fiebig, Ann-Kristin Lochmann (tax); Werner Hanf Unternehmensberatung, Werner Hanf (commercial due diligence).