EY Deals

Congratulations to ABB on reaching an agreement to acquire the Födisch Group, a leading developer of advanced measurement and analytical solutions for the energy and industrial sectors.

We supported ABB in the acquisition with financial due diligence services, led by Julia Thonhauser-Kurz and Ramin Nassiri, with support from David Legoupil, Christine Neufeld, Philippe Schweizer, and Elba Castella.

We are proud to have advised EQT, a global investment organization with EUR 242 billion in total assets under management, in connection with its 35% minority stake investment in Flix, a leading inter-city transportation service provider, together with Kühne Holding, one of the world’s leading logistics entrepreneurs and investors. Headquartered in Germany, Flix offers sustainable and affordable long-distance bus and train travel solutions in 43 countries. The company reported 30% total revenue growth in 2023 and reached EUR 2 billion in annual revenue, proving its strong momentum. The investment is part of a long-term strategic partnership built on a common vision for Flix’s next phase of profitable growth across new and existing markets and offerings. EQT is investing through EQT Future, its impact-driven, longer-hold fund, and will support Flix’s ambition to expand the offering of sustainable and affordable travel options. 

Our teams advised EQT on the financial and tax due diligence processes. Financial due diligence was led by Michael Scholz, Denis Pietruschka and Max Lanz, with support from Joanna Olszewska, Florian Ruelle, Edoardo Gabbianelli and Friedrich Rieger. The tax diligence practice was led by Matthias Franz, Alexandra Römer and Julian Klafs, with support from German, US and Turkish teams.

March 2024

We congratulate our client, Swiss Prime Site, on their announced acquisition of the real estate division of the Fundamenta Group, a real estate asset manager with approximately CHF 4.2bn in assets under management. We are pleased to have again provided comprehensive financial, tax, legal, and regulatory due diligence services to Swiss Prime Site.

The due diligence was led by Marc Berger, Kerstin Barbara Brandt, and Simon Sterchi and included due diligence workstreams from three countries: Switzerland, Germany, and Luxembourg. We would like to thank our exceptional cross-country team, which includes Gilles Hunter, Sandro Koster, Christoph Schulz, and Bastian Nieuwenhuis who supported the financial due diligence; Hanspeter Saner, Marco Zumbühl, Christian Mundel, and David Schröder who oversaw the tax due diligence; Oliver Blum, Kevin Götz, Rafael Araujo Messerli, Achim Grothaus, Christian Friedrich Bock, Georgi Batoev, Stephen D’Errico, and Elisa Faraldo Talmon who covered the legal due diligence; and Darko Stefanoski, Heidi Gysi, and Laura Heinisch who handled regulatory matters.

February 2024

We are proud to have advised KraussMaffei Group GmbH, a global manufacturer of machinery and systems for the production and processing of plastics and rubber, on the sale of its Swiss subsidiary Netstal Maschinen AG to Krones AG. Netstal is a leading supplier of injection molding machines to the beverage market (PET preforms and caps) as well as to the medical and thin-wall packaging markets.

We served as the exclusive sell-side M&A advisor, provided financial due diligence as well as legal advisory services. The M&A team was led by Fabian Denneborg and Dominique Jan Grütter, with support from Stefan Projer and Elina Neu. The due diligence practice was led by Michael Messerli, Max Lanz and Marija Sapovalova. The EY Law team comprised Oliver Blum, Roman Schlager and Kevin Götz.

November 2023

We are delighted to have supported Fresenius Kabi, a global healthcare company specializing in lifesaving medicines and technologies for infusion, transfusion, and clinical nutrition, on the divestment of a leading sterile pharmaceutical production site in Halden, Norway, to the Prange Group and their affiliate Adragos Pharma.

We acted as the lead advisor in M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions), carve-out, and financial due diligence for Fresenius Kabi.

November 2023

We are thrilled to have advised the shareholders of Minka SCS AG, a renowned Swiss-based company, on the successful sale of a majority stake to Reinhart, also based in Switzerland. Minka specializes in the sustainable sourcing and distribution of cocoa beans from diverse origins and countries. With a presence in Peru, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Minka has firmly established itself as a leader in the cocoa export industry.

Our dedicated M&A team was led by Fabian Denneborg and Camille Denis, supported by Mahmud El Saghir, Jeanne Schläfli, and Yann Liechti. They brought their expertise and strategic insights to the table, guiding the shareholders towards a successful outcome.

October 2023

EY advised Partners Group, acting on behalf of its clients, in tax matters relating to the agreement to invest in Exus, an international infrastructure asset management and development firm focused on the renewable energy sector. Exus currently manages over 11 GW of renewable energy assets and has developed 2.4 GW of assets in both Europe and North America. The investment is made alongside Exus’ founders and management. Partners Group plans to commit up to EUR 1 billion in growth capital. The Swiss EY tax team included Conradin Mosimann, Marc Vogelsang as well as Özgür Kara, Ivo Schnyder, Michael Stoller, Patrizia Leonardi, and Fabienne Gauch. Spanish tax advice was provided by Anil Bharwani Alwani, Jose Enrique Padilla Garcia, and Ana Mahia Garrapucho. Antonio Neves and Joana Bessa covered Portuguese Taxes; Adriana Boixados Prio as well Alessandro Fainelli advised on Luxembourg tax matters.

June 2023

Partners Group acquired a leading biogas and biomethane energy platform in Germany ("the Platform") on behalf of its clients. Our team at EY provided crucial support to Partners Group in this transaction, offering buy-side financial and tax due diligence, structuring, and IT/operations carve-out assessment services. The deal was led by Simon Sterchi, with assistance from Denis Pietruschka and Alexander Gerdenitsch for financial due diligence, Conradin Mosimann, Stephan Seiffert, Lukas Göckeritz, Marc Vogelsang, and Alexander Mergardt for tax due diligence and structuring, and Raphael Maccagnan, Daniela Pfeifer, and Ruben Schilder for the IT/operations carve-out assessment.

April 2023

EY supported Saint-Gobain, a worldwide leader in light and sustainable construction, on the divestment of its glass processing business, Glassolutions, in Switzerland to the privately-owned German group AEQUITA and its portfolio company, Vandaglas GmbH. EY acted as M&A, tax, and carve-out advisors; CMS acted as a legal advisor to Saint-Gobain. 

December 2022

Nestlé S.A., a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland and Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited, a New Zealand multinational publicly traded dairy co-operative sold their joint venture Dairy Partners Americas (DPA) Brasil to the French dairy company Lactalis. EY advised on M&A advisory.

November 2022

Amsonic-Hamo Group is a long-standing market leader for validated  cleaning in the pharmaceuticual, medical and precision industries. It has sold 100% of its shares to Kowema AG. Kowema is a Swiss group of companies exclusively funded by Swiss pension funds. Together with Amsonic-Hamo and KKS Ultraschall, two specialists in precision cleaning solutions and surface finishes in the pharmaceutical and medical technology and precision industries it forms two of the leading providers in Switzerland and Europe. EY advised on M&A advisory and negotiation as well as on legal and tax advisory on an international level.

October 2022

Amedis-UE AG, a Swiss pharmaceutical wholesaler active in healthcare logistics, is a subsidiary of PHOENIX Pharma Switzerland. PHOENIX Pharma Switzerland and Voigt Holding agreed to establish a 50/50-joint venture to combine their pharmaceutical distribution services and prewholesale activities. EY advised on its joint venture with Voigt Group on financial due diligence and pension services. 

August 2022

M+R Spedag Group, a family-owned transport and logistics company headquartered in Switzerland has sold Spedag Interfreight as part of the owner’s succession planning. Spedag Interfreight, an international freight forwarding expert covering several countries in East Africa was sold to CEVA Logistics, a subsidiary of one of the world's leading shipping conglomerates CMA CGM S.A. Spedag Interfreight is one of the most competent logistics providers in East Africa with dedicated industry teams possessing leading expertise in relevant market verticals including energy and infrastructure, aid and relief, oil and gas, and commodities. Approximately 400 employees at 24 locations in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and South Sudan have joined CEVA as a result of the transaction’s closing. EY provided M&A advisory, financial and tax due diligence services to M+R Spedag Group on the transaction.

January 2022

AddSecure, a leading European secure IoT connectivity solutions provider with a focus on critical communications and safe data, has acquired LOSTnFOUND, a Swiss-based location tracking and fleet management solutions provider. Sweden headquartered AddSecure, currently applies its expertise within secure critical communications and safe data in Smart Alarms, Smart Care, Smart Rescue, Smart Surveillance, Smart Transport, and the emerging technology area Smart Grids. AddSecure is majority-owned by Funds managed by Castik Capital, a European private equity fund.

The Swiss group LOSTnFOUND AG was founded in 2009 and develops and operates telematics and IoT solutions for companies in the logistics and commercial vehicle industry. fleet.tech is a LOSTnFOUND brand and promotes various telematics solutions.

With this move AddSecure enhances its asset management capabilities in Europe and its expertise within telematics and tracking solutions. The company also expands its footprint into Switzerland and Austria, which further strengthens AddSecure’s position as the leading provider of fleet and transport management solutions in Europe.

EY and EY-Parthenon supported AddSecure in this transaction with buy-side financial and customer analysis due diligence services. The EY financial due diligence team was led by Michael Messerli with support from Dario Flückiger, Ramin Nassiri Hosseini and Yannik Büche. EY-Parthenon offered customer analysis services and the team was led by Dr. Dierk Buss with support from Christopher Grüne and Kenneth K. Lehrmann.

January 2022

EY advised Arxada, a leading global specialty chemicals business, on the acquisition of Enviro Tech Chemical Services, Inc. (Enviro Tech), a category-leading manufacturer of proprietary and high-efficacy antimicrobial and biocidal products offering innovative bromine technologies, peroxyacetic acid formulations and solutions to keep food and water safe and environment clean.

Arxada, formerly part of Lonza Group, is a global specialty chemicals business, offering Microbial Control Solutions (‘MCS’) to six target applications including hygiene, home and personal care, paints and coatings, crop protection, material protection and wood protection. It also offers Specialty Products Solutions (‘SPS’) within its three divisions including performance intermediates and chemicals, composite materials and the custom development and manufacturing organization. Arxada is owned by Bain Capital Private Equity and Cinven, and has a global footprint spanning 32 countries across five continents.

The acquisition aims to strengthen Arxada’s position in microbial control industry through the addition of new applications and active ingredients to its portfolio, expanding presence into food and beverage market. With the takeover, Arxada seeks to create a new, complementary business line in its MCS business, with a focus on peracetic acid (‘PAA’), bromines and specialty products for the food and beverage, agriculture and wastewater treatment segments. Additionally, Arxada intend to benefit from Enviro Tech’s leadership in innovation, strong focus on specialty formulations, unique and highly effective solutions and enhance its manufacturing footprint in strategic locations in the US.

EY supported Arxada in this transaction with comprehensive multidisciplinary advice including tax due diligence, tax structuring and funds management support.

The project was carried out by an international team of EY professionals:

The German team consisted of Susanne Dangir, Michael Vogel, Lars Goldhammer, Marina Köpke, Annemarie Nürnberger, Joshua Ruland, Thanh Son Nghiem, Eric Hoppe and Laura Maria Ordemann.

The US team consisted of Michael J Jacoby, Ezra Pinsky, Jacob Blank, Lars Goldhammer and Pat H Vining.

The Luxembourg team consisted of Floris Gordebeke and Adriana Boixados prio.

The Switzerland team included Martin Baumgartner, Michael Bertschinger, Kilian Bürgi, Andrea Jost and Jana-Sophie Bantle.

The UK team was represented by Tim Goodman, Kenny Brodie and Auke de Jong.

December 2021

SGS has reached an agreement to acquire Quay Pharmaceuticals Ltd (Quay Pharma), a UK-based provider of innovative formulation research and development services for the global biopharmaceutical sector. Quay Pharma supports its customers through the various stages of pharmaceutical clinical development, from pre-formulation to formulation, dosage form design and optimization.

Switzerland-based SGS SA is the world’s leading testing, inspection and certification company.

The acquisition is in line with SGS’s strategy of increasing the scope of services to support its biopharmaceutical customers across the health science supply chain. With the takeover, Quay Pharma will become global center of excellence for formulation, research and development, complementing SGS’s portfolio of analytical services and further aligning its global network more closely to (Testing, Inspection and Certification) TIC leadership position.

EY supported SGS in this transaction with buy-side financial and tax due diligence services as well as SPA advisory support. The Switzerland team was led by David Tripodi with support from Michael Messerli, Simon Gaudenzi, Federica Milesi and Filippo Conta on financial due diligence; George Roberts, Shuchi Ghosh, Fiona Lewis and Conradin Mosimann supported on tax due diligence.

October 2021

doctari GmbH ("doctari"), a portfolio company of Vitruvian Partners, has acquired lichtfeld gmbh, Viantro GmbH and Planerio GmbH. With these takeovers, the doctari group continues to establish itself as a digital healthcare tech company.

doctari is a service provider in the healthcare sector that places doctors and nursing staff at clinics. lichtfeld gmbh is also active in this area and expands the doctari group's personnel pool to a total of 60,000 doctors and nurses. The focus of Viantro GmbH, on the other hand, is on AI-based career planning, permanent employment and further training of doctors. Planerio GmbH offers digital solutions for personnel management in hospitals, with which duty rosters, payroll and time recording can be automated.

The acquired companies complement and expand doctaris' service portfolio and help to optimize recruitment and planning in the healthcare sector. The group's central service is a digital platform that helps institutions in the German healthcare system to counter the shortage of skilled workers and at the same time enables doctors and nurses to shape their work individually.

The doctari management (Torsten Blaschke, Sang-Woo Pai, Silke Oltrogge) placed the highest priority on the successful implementation of the transactions. EY has supported them with comprehensive multidisciplinary advice in the areas of financial and tax due diligence as well as financial modeling. The early involvement of experienced integration consultants was essential for doctari in order to successfully connect all companies into a new powerful group.

The team was led by Alexandra Pitsch for financial due diligence with the support of Korbinian Müller and Steven Wender. The tax due diligence was led by Dr. Christoph Imschweiler with the support of Martin Sattler. The Financial Modeling was led by Sebastian Schmidt with the support of Sascha Lohfink and Lars Vajen.

July 2021

Partners Group has acquired Pharmathen, a leading pharmaceutical company in Europe, from BC Partners. Founded in Greece, the company specializes in the contract development and production of complex generic preparations.

EY provided Partners Group with comprehensive and multidisciplinary advice on this transaction. The financial due diligence was led by Simon Sterchi and Natalie Mackscheidt. Conradin Mosimann, Andrew Black and Ben Hewitt advised Partners Group on tax aspects. The IT due diligence was carried out by Gareth Griffiths, Amit Bance and Malcolm Cooper.

July 2021

Storskogen and Artum, industrial investment companies based in Sweden and Switzerland respectively, will operate together in the DACH region in the future. Both companies pursue the strategy of long-term investments in small and medium-sized companies in German-speaking Switzerland and Germany.

Artum AG was founded in 2011 by Roger Kollbrunner and Thomas Werner. The management team now comprises nine people, all of whom will become part of the Storskogen team in the future. Artum's portfolio currently comprises 15 companies with 490 employees and generated sales of 179 million Swiss francs in 2020.

Storskogen is a private company that aims to acquire and manage stable, market-leading companies in the service, industrial and commercial sectors. The Storskogen Group, headquartered in Stockholm, currently comprises 67 business units with a total of 4,000 employees. The divestment of its companies is not part of Storskogen's strategy.

EY supported Storskogen in this transaction with financial, tax and pension due diligence services. The financial team was led by Simon Sterchi, supported by Dario Flückiger and Ivano Flueckiger. Conradin Mosimann led the tax team with the support of Michael Bertschinger, while Martin Kuhn and Marina Hess were responsible for the pension due diligence.

March 2021

Bridgepoint acquires Infinigate Holding AG, a distributor of cybersecurity products, from H.I.G. Capital.

Based in Switzerland, Inifigate offers state-of-the-art security solutions for securing and protecting data, servers, networks and the cloud. With around 500 employees in 11 European countries and a partner network that includes more than 10,000 partners. Infinigate creates added value in distribution with dedicated services in the areas of technology, marketing, sales and professional services for both its partners and manufacturers.

Bridgepoint is an international investment group focused on medium-sized companies, particularly in Europe.

EY supported Bridgepoint in this transaction with comprehensive and multidisciplinary advice (financial, tax, ESG and IT due diligence). The teams were led by Johannes Stroumbos, Urs Indermühle, Karl-Christopher Erkrath, Carsten Kuhlmann, Sandra Zahn and Robert Seiter, supported by Simon Gaudenzi, Federica Milesi, Dipankar Debnath, Anna Koch, Daniel Schmidt, Daniela Pfeifer and Mark Veser.

March 2021

The Swiss Franke Group has agreed to sell its water systems division to funds advised by Equistone Partners Europe. The transaction comprises the business units "Water Systems Commercial Group" and "KWC Group" and is subject to regulatory approvals.

The Water Systems Commercial Group offers intelligent sanitary equipment for commercial customers, while the KWC Group manufactures exclusive fittings for the private customer segment. In addition to Switzerland, the Water Systems division has production and sales facilities in other European countries, great Britain, the United Arab Emirates and China.

Equistone Partners Europe is a long-term equity investor and works closely with the management of its portfolio companies.

EY supported the Franke Group in this transaction with comprehensive and multidisciplinary advice (sell-side factbook with the areas of financial, scoping and carve-out, pension and tax). The team was led by Michael Messerli, Martin Baumgartner and Robert Kendzia with the support of Luise Kremer, Nadine Kammerer and other team members.

February 2021

Storskogen has acquired a majority stake in PerfectHair.ch, the leading online retailer of professional hair care and beauty products in Switzerland.

Founded in 2008, PerfectHair began selling professional hair care products and later expanded its portfolio to include beauty products. Currently, more than 30,000 articles and 300 brands are offered online. In addition, PerfectHair operates five hair and beauty salons in the Zurich area, where the products are also sold offline.

Storskogen is a private company that aims to acquire and manage stable, market-leading companies in the service, industrial and commercial sectors. Storskogen currently comprises 67 business units with a total of 4,000 employees. The divestment of its companies is not part of Storskogen's strategy.

EY supported Storskogen in this transaction with financial due diligence services. The team was led by Simon Sterchi, supported by Verena Pütz, Philipp Dialer and Martin Nef.