DPE to exit VTU Group in sale to Altor Capital

Wahida Ahmed
17 February 2023

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Deutsche Private Equity Management (DPE) has agreed to sell its stake in VTU Group, an Austria-based engineering solutions provider, to Altor Capital.

Altor will acquire a majority stake in the business, with VTU's management team, who are DPE's co-shareholders, will be reinvesting, according to a press release.

Unquote sister publication Mergermarket reported earlier this month that Altor was among funds placing final bids for VTU. According to the report, VTU was being sold off EUR 20m-25m annual EBITDA in a process run by Houlihan Lokey.

The investment is Altor's fifth acquisition in the DACH region. Other investments include Hamburg-headquarterd zahn.eins, a dental practices group, and Berlin-headquartered oceansapart, an activewear brand, according to a press release.

Altor said in the press release that the deal is in line with its sustainability initiatives having previously invested in companies like Sweden-based H2GreenSteel, a green steel producer and Sweden-based OX2, a developer of renewable energy sources.

Altor in deploying equity via Altor Fund V, which held a final close in February 2019 on its EUR 2.5bn hard-cap, according to Unquote Data.

DPE invested in the company in March 2018 through Deutsche Private Equity Management III, which held a final close in April 2013 on EUR 350m. During its hold period, the sponsor supported three add-on acquisitions including Ifss, a domestic consultancy for life sciences and pharmaceutical companies, in 2021. VTU also increased its revenues by 160% during DPE's five-year investment period. In 2022, VTU reported annual revenues of around EUR 175m. VTU's headcount, which consists 80% of engineers, has increased from 400 employees to 1,200 employees, according to the press release.

Company
Founded in 1990 in Graz, Austria, VTU provides process engineering services for customers operating in the life sciences and green transition industries. Its offering covers the whole engineering, procurement, construction management and validation value chain ranging from system optimisation to the general planning of large-scale projects. It operates in 36 locations across six European countries – Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Poland and Romania.

People
DPE – Guido Prehn (managing partner), Fabian Rücker (partner).
Altor Capital – Giovanna Maag (partner).
VTU Group – Friedrich Fröschl (CEO).

Advisors
Vendor – Houlihan Lokey (M&A), strategy& (commercial due diligence), Deloitte (financial and tax due diligence), CMS (legal), Arendt (legal), Pöllath + Partners and Schindler (structuring).