Ardian buys majority stake in Swissbit

Harriet Matthews
13 May 2020

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Ardian is to acquire a majority stake in electrical components producer Swissbit, while the company's management team will reinvest in the company to hold a significant minority stake.

The transaction is subject to approval from the competition authorities.

Ardian plans to support the company's organic growth and assist with its expansion to Asia and North America, according to a statement.

The buyout was financed via structured senior debt from Swiss banks.

Ardian deployed equity via its Ardian Expansion Fund strategy. Its latest vehicle in the strategy, Ardian Expansion Fund IV, was 80% deployed as of December 2019.

Unquote sister publication Debtwire reported that final bids for Swissbit had been accepted in April 2020, with Deutsche Private Equity and Deutsche Beteiligungs AG still in the process. Prospective buyers were reportedly seeking unitranche financing in the range of €80-90m.

Company
Swissbit provides NAND flash-based storage and embedded Internet-of-Things (IoT) products for use in industries including healthcare, network communications and industrial technology. Its manufacturing facility in Berlin produces SD and micro-SD cards, SSD hard drives and USB memory modules. The company has more than 700 customers, according to a statement.

Based in Bronschhofen, Switzerland, the company was founded in 2001 and was formed via an MBO from Siemens Memory. Its Berlin-based manufacturing site opened in October 2019. The company also has offices in the US, Japan and Taiwan, and has 230 employees.

Swissbit reports EBITDA of more than €28m. It has grown by 20% annually in recent years and its revenues are more than €100m.

People
Ardian – Dirk Wittneben, Marc Abadir (managing directors); Yannic Metzger (senior investment manager).
Swissbit – Silvio Muschter (CEO).

Advisers
Company – Deloitte (financial due diligence, tax); Bär & Karrer (legal); GCA Altium (M&A, debt advisory).
Equity – McKinsey & Company (commercial due diligence); Deloitte (financial due diligence); Latham & Watkins (legal); Niederer Kraft Frey (legal); Taxess (tax); Loyens & Loeff (tax); Lincoln International (M&A, debt advisory).