KKR acquires 50% of Swedish wood tech specialist Välinge

The deal saw the US-headquartered GP buy two 20% stakes from minority shareholders; one from Austrian wood-based panel manufacturer Kronospan and the second from Swiss Krono Group, a Luzern-based wood products group. Both will remain substantial licensees of Välinge's technology.

KKR's final 10% of the shares in Välinge were acquired from the Pervan family and CEO Darko Pervan, who founded the company.

Capital for the deal was drawn primarily from KKR's European Fund IV, and Välinge will use it to invest in development of technologies in areas including luxury vinyl tile (LVT) flooring, digital micro 3D printing and wood powder technology.

Välinge has previously been backed by private equity, with Swedish investment company Nordstjernan acquiring a 23% stake in 2002, expanding to 50% in 2004, before selling 10% each to Kronospan and Swiss Krono Group. Nordstjernan's involvement in Välinge was marred by conflict with the owning family and CEO Pervan.

The investor attempted to fire Pervan and replace him with CFO Bobby Markowski, who was fired by Pervan when the attempted leadership change came to light.

The disagreement between the two shareholders eventually mooted a tabled IPO and the Pervan family reacquired the 30% stake held by Nordstjernan, while Kronospan and Swiss Krono Group retained their combined 40% holding.

Company
Founded in 1993, Välinge is an R&D and intellectual property business specialising in wood based technologies and the flooring and furniture sectors.

Välinge has a patent portfolio composed of more than 1,300 patents and 200 global licences, with 12,000 patent applications in its pipeline.

The Viken-headquartered company employs 100 people and is projecting licence income of €86m in 2015 with EBITDA of €46m.

People
KKR – Anders Borg (director).
Välinge – Niclas Håkansson (CEO); Darko Pervan (founder).

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