POELLATH advises Gimv on its investment in WDM/Deutenberg Group
The European investment company Gimv (“Gimv”) has acquired a minority stake in the WDM/Deutenberg Group, a portfolio company of the Swiss private equity firm Cross (“Cross”). The WDM/Deutenberg Group includes WDM Wolfshagener Draht- und Metallverarbeitung GmbH (“WDM”), a leading supplier of customized, spot-welded wire mesh solutions, and Deutenberg Drahttechnik GmbH (“Deutenberg”), a German specialist in high-quality wire bending parts, which was acquired as part of Gimv’s investment. Thanks to the many years of experience both companies have in the manufacture of wire products, this will drive innovations even more decisively in the future.
POELLATH provided comprehensive legal advice to Gimv in connection with the investment.
Founded in 1994 and based in Brandenburg, WDM specializes in the production of high-quality wire products for industry, architecture, as well as trade and shopfitting. An average of 35,000 pieces of mesh leave the plant in Wolfshagen every day. That’s about 50 tons of wire that are processed into spot-welded wire mesh every day on state-of-the-art, semi- and fully-automatic mesh welding equipment. Cross had already acquired a majority stake in WDM at the beginning of 2018 and has since been pursuing a focused expansion strategy.
The German family-owned company Deutenberg, based in Ense in the Sauerland region, is one of the leading suppliers of 3-D wire mesh solutions. The company serves customers from a wide range of sectors, including industry, architecture and retail.
Gimv is a European investment company with 40 years of experience as a holding company. The company currently has a portfolio of around EUR 2 billion with more than 55 investments, which collectively realize a turnover of more than EUR 2.8 billion and employ 15,000 people.
POELLATH provided comprehensive legal advice to Gimv in connection with its investment with the following team:
- Dr. Tim Kaufhold (partner, lead, M&A / private equity, Munich)
- Daniel Wiedmann (associated partner, antitrust law, Frankfurt)
- Dr. Jens Linde (associated partner, financing, Frankfurt)
- Dr. Moritz Klein (senior associate, M&A / private equity, Munich)
