Finatem buys 40% stake in FMW Industrieanlagenbau

Kim Richters
12 August 2013

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Finatem has bought a 40% stake in FMW, an Austrian manufacturer of industrial plants, from private equity house Hannover Finanz and FMW’s management.

Hannover Finanz held a 68% stake before Finatem's investment. FMW's management owned 32%. Hannover Finanz, which originally invested in 2006, and Finatem now hold a 40% stake each. The management of FMW holds 20% of the shares.

The investment was made in FMW's existing holding company. Finatem drew capital from its third fund Finatem III, 66% of which has yet to be committed. This is the fund's first investment in Austria's industrial sector.

Finatem will inject further capital to support FMW's acquisition of subsidiaries. According to Finatem partner Eric Jungblut, FMW will look to expand in emerging markets such as Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Germany-based Finatem typically invests €10-25m in mid-market companies with a turnover of €25-125m in the DACH region. Around 35% of investors in Finatem III come from France, whereas 39% come from Germany. The remaining 26% are from the rest of Europe.

Hannover invests via evergreen funds.

Company
FMW designs and manufactures plants and systems for the paper and cellulose processing industry as well as for mineral technology applications and energy generation. The company claims to be the only supplier with the ability to provide complete installations for the production of hydrated and unhydrated lime from a single source.

The firm has 165 employees and is based in Kirchstetten, Austria. It was founded in 1962 by the Liebner and Steinwald families. Its prior focus was manufacturing plants for sugar production until the 1990s, when it expanded its manufacturing focus to plants for the building industry. It builds 90% of its plants outside of Austria, with three quarters of the plants located outside of Europe. The company generates €75m in revenues, according to its website.

People
Christoph Jorns is an investment manager at Finatem. Eric Jungblut is a partner at Finatem and led the investment. Andreas Schober is CEO of Hannover Finanz. Michael Mittag and Oliver Schlief are co-CEOs at FMW.

Advisers
Equity - Dorda Brugger Jordis, SJ Berwin (Legal); KPMG (Commercial due diligence, tax, IT due diligence); URS (Environmental due diligence); Willis (Insurance due diligence).
Vendor - Jörg Swoboda, Christina Silberberger, Lukas Flener (Legal).