Sale of a successful company for individualized robot cells and automation solutions

The company’s customer base covers the entire spectrum of the German manufacturing industry, in particular the automotive sector. With around 100 highly qualified engineers and skilled workers, the company achieved an operating EBIT of over 10% at the time of the investor process.

The client was the founder of the company who, after twenty years of growth, wanted to realize his long-planned retirement by selling his shares with the help of Bacher & Wolf. It was important to the managing partner to identify interested parties with the best possible strategic fit, who would take the growth course to a higher level and for whom the purchase represented a particularly high added value that justified the high purchase price expectation.

M&A advice in all phases of the sales process

A particular requirement of the client was that the investor process should not only be strictly confidential, but also completely anonymous in the initial stages in order to avoid unrest among the workforce and in the market.

Bacher & Wolf organized a tailor-made sales process according to the client’s wishes. This included all steps from preparing the sales documents, identifying and approaching potential interested parties, negotiating NDAs, setting up a data room, visiting the production facilities, due diligence, reviewing and negotiating the offers through to closing.

From an extensive longlist, 9 interested parties ultimately submitted purchase offers. After examination, detailed negotiations were conducted in parallel with a selection of the most suitable interested parties. 

Purchase price 38% above original expectations

After six months, the intensive investor process led to the successful sale of the company to one of the interested parties. In addition to capital, this investor brought a high level of strategic potential, which will enable the successful further development of the company and secure jobs in the long term. A soft exit over several months was agreed with the founder to ensure an optimized handover of the company, including business contacts, etc. In addition, a purchase price was paid that was 38% higher than originally expected, ensuring that the seller was highly satisfied with the investor process.

The project in brief:

• Successful company succession in the robotics sector; succession solution for company founders.
• Better purchase price by increasing the number of interested parties through a professional bidding process.
• M&A consulting and implementation of a customized investor process
• Preparation of anonymized sales documents, tracking down and approaching suitable buyers
• Due diligence, bidding process, contract negotiations
• Sales price exceeds expectations by 38

Why Bacher & Wolf?

• Relevant deal experience from the sale of numerous companies from a wide range of industries.
• Based on our database, a list of potential buyers can be compiled at short notice – both for interested parties from the industry environment and for financial investors.
• Investors are approached within a very short time. We specialize in fast investor processes with bidding procedures.
• We are personally involved in our projects and have a personal interest in their success in the interests of our clients – no anonymous large-scale consultancy.
• Over 18 years of successful M&A advice on corporate transactions, fundraising and the search for equity investors. Fast and focused on the essentials.

Contact: duesseldorf@bacherwolf.de Phone: +49-211-74958882

Sale of a traditional company in the food industry out of insolvency in self-administration

The sold group of companies is a long-standing pioneer and innovation driver in the food sector with annual sales of over EUR 120 million and a large workforce at several production sites in Germany and abroad.

In addition to the food service industry and bulk consumers, customers in the B2B sector include food retailers in particular, to whom a wide range of products are supplied via private labels and own brands. In some areas, the company is the market leader in Europe.

Excessive sales orientation with a wide variety of products and the processing of even the smallest orders led to a complexity that was difficult to manage and articles with weak or negative contribution margins. In the context of filing for insolvency under self-administration, Bacher & Wolf was commissioned to support the company’s turnaround with the help of an investor process and recapitalization by a buyer to be found.

Liquidity bottleneck initially jeopardizes the sales process

The particular challenge of the international sales process led by Bacher & Wolf was to maintain ongoing production and meet delivery obligations despite the tight liquidity situation. The latter was also of great importance for the parallel sales negotiations, as the listing with the key players in the food retail sector was a core asset of the client.

This was resolved by negotiating a loan for working capital financing with one of the prospective buyers, which in return granted him exclusivity for some time in the sales negotiations as preferred bidder and enabled him to carry out due diligence.

Buyer continues to run the company and preserves jobs

The buyer used the period of exclusivity to prevail over the other interested parties with a convincing acquisition concept, which enabled the continuation of the German operations and the preservation of jobs as part of an asset deal.

Bacher & Wolf organized a tailor-made sales process according to the client’s wishes. This included all steps from preparing the sales documents, identifying and approaching potential buyers, negotiating NDAs, setting up a data room, inspecting the production facilities, due diligence, reviewing and negotiating the offers through to closing.

The project in brief:

• Company sale for a major player in the food industry
• M&A advice on the sell-side
• International investor process with unexpected challenges
• Buyer with perfect fit and win-win situation
• Due diligence, bidding process, contract negotiations, asset deal

Why Bacher & Wolf?

• Relevant deal experience from the sale of numerous companies from a wide range of industries.
• Based on our database, a list of potential buyers can be compiled at short notice – both for interested parties from the industry environment and for financial investors.
• Investors are approached within a very short time. We specialize in fast investor processes with bidding procedures.
• We are personally involved in our projects and personally interested in their success in the interests of our clients – no anonymous large-scale consultancy.
• Over 18 years of successful M&A consulting for corporate transactions, fundraising and the search for equity investors. Fast and focused on the essentials.

Contact: duesseldorf@bacherwolf.de Phone: +49-211-74958882

Sale of a wholesale and retail company with a store network to a strategic investor

The company sold is a wholesale and retail company for high-quality, professional non-food products with a network of stores and a central warehouse.

The product range of the stores is aimed at both discerning private B2C consumers and professional B2B users and comprised around 5900 different items at the time of sale, of which between 2500 and 3500 are presented in the individual stores. The full range is sold via the company’s internet platform.

Excessively rapid growth and a change in strategy combined with the establishment of complex organizational structures led to a tight liquidity situation, so that Bacher & Wolf was commissioned to find a strategic investor at short notice to acquire the company and its branch network as part of an asset deal.

Valuation of the branch locations as a particular challenge in the sales process

Within a short period of time, Bacher & Wolf identified and approached over 100 potential buyers. This resulted in 14 potential buyers, a good third of whom came from neighboring European countries and were particularly interested in acquiring the branch network.

The majority of the leased stores are located in highly frequented inner-city
locations in medium-sized cities and have a sales area of between 60 and around 90 square meters. In larger cities, the store network also includes larger stores on the outskirts of towns and cities with more than 100 square meters of space.

The evaluation of the store locations by the interested parties proved to be a
particular challenge in this investor process. To this end, Bacher & Wolf
conducted numerous road shows to the individual stores for selected interested parties over several days during opening hours to enable them to form their own impression of the value of the locations.

International strategist with a perfect fit takes over all store locations

Despite the complexity of this investor process, the company, including its store network and central warehouse, was sold to a European bidder within just over three months, who ultimately prevailed over two other potential buyers. This bidder is already successfully active in the same sector in neighboring countries. The acquisition was a perfect fit and enabled him to expand quickly into Germany – without having to spend a long time building up his own branch network.

Bacher & Wolf organized a tailor-made sales process according to the client’s wishes. This included all steps from the preparation of sales documents, identification and approach of potential buyers, negotiation of NDAs, setting up a data room, inspection of the production facilities, due diligence, review and negotiation of offers through to closing. 

The project in brief:

• Sale of a wholesale and retail chain in the non-food sector
• M&A advice and organization of road shows to individual store locations
• Buyer with perfect fit and win-win situation
• Due diligence, bidding process, contract negotiations
• Rapid sales success despite numerous interested parties, complex due diligence and intensive negotiations

 Why Bacher & Wolf?

• Relevant deal experience from the sale of numerous companies from a wide range of industries.
• Based on our database, a list of potential buyers can be compiled at short notice – both for interested parties from the industry environment and for financial investors.
• Investors are approached within a very short time. We specialize in fast investor processes with bidding procedures.
• We are personally involved in our projects and have a personal interest in their success in the interests of our clients – no anonymous large-scale consultancy.
• Over 18 years of successful M&A advice on corporate transactions, fundraising and the search for equity investors. Fast and focused on the essentials.

Contact: duesseldorf@bacherwolf.de Phone: +49-211-74958882

Continuation of a mechanical engineering company in its fourth generation by a strategic partner

Now in its fourth generation, the company is an established specialist in the manufacture of machine components used in various industries and application areas.

Founded in 1900, the machine manufacturer has more than one hundred years of experience, technologies, tools and established customer relationships. With an export share of 85%, the client is a world-renowned company and counts renowned industry giants among its international clientele, for example in the automotive sector or textile processing.

High number of international interested parties makes pre-selection necessary

Due to an unresolved management succession issue, Bacher & Wolf was called in and entrusted with the search for a strategic partner to maintain and continue the company.

The large international customer base led to a large number of expressions of interest from many countries and necessitated a complex selection process. The aim of this process was to minimize the number of company visits in order to save the client’s management capacities and avoid unnecessary unrest within the company. In this process, the seriousness, financial strength and strategic fit of the respective interested parties were examined as thoroughly as possible before they were included on the shortlist of the investor process.

Investor process solves unresolved succession problem

After intensive negotiations and a weeks-long bidding process between investors from India, China, the USA and Germany, the offer from an interested party from the same federal state won out. Its overall package of purchase price and acquisition concept best matched the owner family’s vision for the continuation of their own company. In addition, the acquirer is also family-run and its positioning is a perfect strategic fit for successful joint business development.

Bacher & Wolf organized a tailor-made international sales process according to the client’s wishes. This included all steps from preparing the sales documents, identifying and approaching potential buyers, negotiating NDAs, setting up a data room, visiting the production facilities, due diligence, reviewing and negotiating the offers through to closing.

The project in brief:

• Sale of a family-run mechanical engineering company in its fourth generation

• M&A advice for the sell-side

• International investor process makes pre-selection process necessary

• Buyer with high fit succeeds and continues family business

• Due diligence, bidding process, contract negotiations, asset deal

Why Bacher & Wolf?

• Relevant deal experience from the sale of numerous companies from a wide range of industries.
• Based on our database, a list of potential buyers can be compiled at short notice – both for interested parties from the industry environment and for financial investors.
• Investors are approached within a very short time. We specialize in fast investor processes with bidding procedures.
• We are personally involved in our projects and personally interested in their success in the interests of the client – no anonymous large-scale consultancy.
• Over 18 years of successful M&A advice on corporate transactions, fundraising and the search for equity investors. Fast and focused on the essentials.

Contact: duesseldorf@bacherwolf.de Phone: +49-211-74958882

Sale of a specialist for the general overhaul and maintenance of large machines to a strategic partner

Despite consistently high customer demand and a good reputation in the industry, the company was suffering from its heavy dependence on major projects. The absence of a firmly planned project suddenly put the company in a precarious situation and led to the commissioning of Bacher & Wolf. 

In view of the steady influx of orders, it quickly became clear that the expertise of the employees and the high quality of the work were highly valued by well-known customers. The search for a strategic partner therefore quickly became the focus of further efforts, and an investor process was commissioned.

M&A process delivers solution options within a few weeks

Within just a few weeks, the Düsseldorf team from Bacher & Wolf succeeded in presenting the company with a selection of potential partners with a good strategic fit and financial strength.

After many discussions and negotiations with numerous interested parties, it was ultimately the acquisition concept of a company that has specialized in solutions in the field of customer-specific industrial electronics, among other things for more than 30 years that was convincing. In the future, joint resources can be used and strengths pooled so that the client can be brought back into the profit zone and back on the road to success in a short space of time.

Investor processes create added value

Bacher & Wolf organized a tailor-made sales process according to the client’s wishes. This included all steps from preparing the sales documents, identifying and approaching potential interested parties, negotiating NDAs, setting up a data room, visiting the production facilities, due diligence, reviewing and negotiating the offers through to closing.

The project in brief:

• Sale of a specialist for retrofitting, general overhaul and maintenance of large machines
• M&A  advice for the sell-side
• Solution through sales process within a few weeks
• Buyer with perfect fit and win-win situation
• Due diligence, bidding process, contract negotiations, asset deal

Why Bacher & Wolf?

• Relevant deal experience from the sale of numerous companies from a wide range of industries.
• Based on our database, a list of potential buyers can be compiled at short notice – both for interested parties from the industry environment and for financial investors.
• Investors are approached within a very short time. We specialize in fast investor processes with bidding procedures.
• We are personally involved in our projects and personally interested in their success in the interests of our clients – no anonymous large-scale consultancy.
• Over 18 years of successful M&A consulting for corporate transactions, fundraising and the search for equity investors. Fast and focused on the essentials.

Contact: duesseldorf@bacherwolf.de Phone: +49-211-74958882

On behalf of an owner-managed company in the automotive supply industry, Bacher & Wolf was initially tasked with identifying cooperation partners in Europe and Germany in particular. The aim was to drive forward the client’s international expansion on the one hand and to expand its own position on the domestic market with the help of a European brand to be acquired on the other. After identifying European companies with a high strategic fit and interest in cooperation, Bacher & Wolf was mandated to carry out the further implementation steps on the buy-side.

Successful acquisition of a business unit and initiation of an international cooperation leads to a win-win situation

Following in-depth analyses of the shortlisted targets, the client decided to enter into negotiations with an automotive supplier from southern Germany. 

In the course of the subsequent cooperation initiation, Bacher & Wolf took over and accompanied the entire negotiations up to the successful signing of a cooperation agreement between the two companies.

The advisory activities included holding management meetings at executive and specialist level, financial due diligence, the development of an acquisition concept with transaction structure, LOI and the indicative offer for a business division.

For the two cooperation partners, the high strategic fit with complementary strengths resulted in a win-win situation and a sustainable improvement in their competitive position in the competitive automotive sector and enabled a realignment.

The project in brief:

• Target search in the automotive sector for an international investor
• Identification of potential partners with a high strategic fit
• M&A consulting for the buy-side
• Execution of all initiation and implementation steps up to closing
• Due diligence, contract negotiations, asset deal

Why Bacher & Wolf?

• Relevant deal experience from the sale and purchase of numerous companies from a wide range of industries.
• Based on our database, a list of potential buyers and sellers can be compiled at short notice – both for interested parties from the industry environment and for financial investors.
• Investors are approached within a very short time. We specialize in fast investor processes with bidding procedures.
• We are personally involved in our projects and personally interested in their success in the interests of our clients – no anonymous large-scale consultancy.
• Over 18 years of successful M&A advice on corporate transactions, fundraising and the search for equity investors. Fast and focused on the essentials.

Contact: duesseldorf@bacherwolf.de Phone: +49-211-74958882