Afinum sells Orwo Net

The holding companies of the majority shareholders, Gerhard Köhler and Hans Dieter Lindemeyer acquired Afinum's shares.

The sale ends a seven-year holding period for Afinum, which acquired a minority stake via the €210m, AF Eigenkapitalfonds für deutschen Mittelstand fund.

Partially state-owned banks KfW and Commerzbank acted as cornerstones for the fund, after running a tender to choose a fund manager for Mittelstand development in 2011.

One of the conditions of the fund is that the majority shareholders have the opportunity to buy their stake back from Afinum at the end of its investment period.

It is the fourth exit from the vehicle following the divestments of Altendorf, Alfmeier and Engel & Völkers. The fund was fully invested across 10 platforms and two bolt-on acquisitions.

Orwo recorded single digit revenue growth during the investment period from €40m in 2011 to around €47m. This was achieved by supporting the professionalisation of the company and focusing on development of photo product software.

Previous funding
Afinum bought a minority stake in Orwo in November 2011 from the current shareholders, and increased the equity capital of the company.

Company
Orwo manufactures and sells photo books, calenders, digital and analogue photo prints, wallpaper, gift cards and other printing products for the decoration and gift markets. The company was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in Bitterfeld-Wolfen. It generates a turnover of approximately €47m with a workforce of 353.

People
Afinum Management – Berthold Schmidt-Förger (partner).
Orwo Net – Gerhard Köhler, Hans Dieter Lindemeyer (founders).

Advisers
Equity – Stephens (M&A).

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• Topics
• Exits
• DACH
• Consumer
• Afinum
• Management buy-back
• Germany