SHS sells stake in Single Use Support

The transaction generated a money multiple of more than 7x for SHS.

SHS acquired a minority stake of almost 20% in SUS in November 2019, investing via SHS V Fonds. The vehicle held a final close in July 2019 on €130m, and generally invests a maximum of €30m per company. SUS is the first exit from the vehicle.

The exit opportunity arrived quicker than initially anticipated, SHS managing partner Sascha Alilovic told Unquote. "We expected to hold the company for much longer, maybe for three to five years – but the company was exploding in terms of revenues and customer growth, and the product became the gold standard in managing transportation for high-value liquids in the pharma space. So we thought it would be good to have a bigger partner to accompany that extreme growth."

The sale saw interest from both trade buyers and sponsors, Alilovic said. "We had interest from a number of companies supporting life science production and supply chain with innovative products, but also from high-growth cold chain logistics companies that focus on vaccine and gene therapies. We also had a significant number of financial sponsors looking at SUS to accompany them on their next step."

The GP said in a statement issued at the time of the investment that it intended to support the company's international expansion, as well as the development of its sales facilities. Asked about the company's growth during the investment period, Alilovic said: "We helped them with their legal and IP set up, looked at the supply chain and manufacturing capacity, and last but not least with the partnering process."

Company
SUS produces single-use bags for the transportation of liquids in the pharmaceuticals sector, as well as for frozen products. Founded in 2015 and based in Kufstein, the company now employs more than 40 people, compared with 15 employees in 2019.

People
SHS – Uwe Steinbacher, Sascha Alilovic (managing partner).
Single Use Support – Johannes Kirchmair, Thomas Wurm (founders, managing directors).

Advisers
Vendor – Harris Williams (corporate finance); CMS (legal).

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• Exits
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