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Beyond Capital Partners acquires shareholding in leading fashion e-commerce agency “Wiethe Content”
September 2021 Frankfurt am Main
Beyond Capital Partners GmbH (“BCP”) advised Beyond Capital Partners Fund II on the acquisition of a stake in Georgsmarienhütte und Bremen based Wiethe Content GmbH & Co. KG (“Wiethe”). The transaction was signed and closed in September 2021.
Wiethe is one of the leading, German digital agencies and market leader in the fashion segment. Running Europe´s largest e-commerce photography studio, Wiethe is a specialized content creation and production b2b service provider and benefits from the long-term mega-trend, the conversion from offline to e-commerce online shopping. For more than 15 years and driven by its founder Markus Wiethe, the company has developed itself into being the relevant, customer-centric focused servicer for its fashion industry clients. With 150 employees split over two locations and more than 50 customers, Wiethe is the well-known e-commerce full-service provider and one-stop-shop fulfillment specialist for digital content for its customers, comprising global top tier brand names like adidas, Reebok, Hugo Boss, G Star, Stylebop, Deichmann and many more.
„Beyond Capital Partners convinced us with its professional appearance and its in-depth understanding of a continuously growing Mittelstand company like us. Jointly with the BCP team, we are eager to use the coming years to cement our already leading position in Germany and to expand the roll-out of our service portfolio for our existing and prospective new clients. Personally, I appreciated the top-level competence of Beyond as much as the confidential and individual share of thoughts on a same eye level, which underlines the basis for a trustfully, longstanding partnership“, states Markus Wiethe, founder and Managing Director of the company.
„Wiethe convinced us from minute one, showing its clearly defined focus on customer-centricity and the professional structures to accomplish this. Together with Markus Wiethe as founder and continuing managing director as well as with his entire team, we identified this opportunity for a strong organic growth story. In addition, we will significantly support the company through selective buy-and-build activities across the GSA region and Europe to grow the firm both in its established core area as well as in adjacent services into a new revenue and market share level“, says Christoph D. Kauter, founder and Managing Partner of Beyond Capital Partners.
About Beyond Capital Partners
Beyond Capital Partners is an investment company advising its funds on the acquisition of majority shareholdings of profitable small- and medium sized enterprises in the DACH region focusing on the asset-light segments business services, IT, software, healthcare, lifestyle and entertainment.
www.beyondcapital-partners.com
About Wiethe
Wiethe Content GmbH & Co. KG, located in Georgsmarienhütte and Bremen, is one of the leading, German digital agencies and market leader in the e-commerce fashion segment.
https://www.wiethe.com
Xortec GmbH expands market position by expanding into southern Germany
May 2021 Frankfurt am Main
Xortec GmbH (“Xortec”), headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, is strengthening its market position as a provider of network-based video surveillance and data communication solutions. With retroactive effect from January 01, 2021, Xortec has acquired Videosystems Sicherungstechnik Vertriebs GmbH (“Videosystems”) in Munich.
The cooperation between the two companies creates one of the leading distributors for video security on the German market.
“The acquisition of Videosystems is another milestone in the company’s history for Xortec and an important step for the strategic development in a sought-after growth market,” says Hubert Irka, founder and managing director of Xortec GmbH. Andreas Schlawien, Managing Director and founder of Videosystems, adds: “Through the partnership with Xortec, we can focus even more intensively on our customers and product solutions and, among other things, gain access to Xortec’s excellent logistics, which significantly increases our product availability.”
The management team will be strengthened by Michael Schaller, who joined the management of Xortec GmbH in April 2021. In addition to many years of experience as managing director in security companies, he brings the customer perspective of specialist installers to the company and, together with Andreas Schlawien, takes over the management of Videosystems.
Since January 2021, Xortec GmbH has been a participation of a fund advised by Beyond Capital Partners. “As an investment company with a focus on German-speaking SMEs, it is our goal to further expand Xortec’s market position in the DACH region through suitable acquisitions. Accordingly, we are continuously exploring Xortec’s competitive landscape and are looking for further suitable investment opportunities,” says Christoph D. Kauter, Managing Partner of Beyond Capital Partners.
About Xortec
Xortec GmbH, based in Frankfurt am Main, is a leading provider of network-based video surveillance and data communication solutions. The company’s focus is on the distribution of professional video surveillance solutions and a comprehensive range of accompanying services.
www.xortec.de
About Videosystems
Munich-based Videosystems Sicherungstechnik Vertriebs GmbH has been successfully active on the market for 30 years as a specialist distributor and major distributor of safety technology for installers, distributors, dealers, electrical companies and resellers. The company’s focus is on the project business for complex security solutions.
www.videosystems.de
About Beyond Capital Partners
Beyond Capital Partners is an investment company advising its funds on the acquisition of majority shareholdings of profitable small- and medium sized enterprises in the DACH region focusing on the asset-light segments business services, IT, software, healthcare, lifestyle and entertainment.
www.beyondcapital-partners.com
Beyond Capital Partners disposes portfolio company “sysob IT-Unternehmensgruppe” to CMS Distribution Ltd.
March 2021 Frankfurt am Main
Beyond Capital Partners GmbH (“BCP”) advised Beyond Capital Partners Fund I on the disposal of the entire stake in its portfolio company sysob IT-Unternehmensgruppe (“sysob”), via signing and closing in February, to CMS Distribution Ltd. (“CMS”), a leading European special distributor. The parties agreed confidentiality about the purchase price.
sysob IT-Unternehmensgruppe is one of the largest owner-managed value-added distributors in the German speaking countries. sysob´s focus lies in providing trendsetting, market-standard IT-security, wireless LAN and server-based computing products.
In the period of Beyond Capital Partners´ ownership, sysob doubled its revenue with an even stronger increase of its EBITDA through the onboarding of new vendors and additional customers. With the acquisition of sysob, CMS as new majority shareholder finds its market entry into the German market and intents to follow the pursued growth-path in the future.
Über CMS Distribution Ltd.
CMS Distribution is a leading specialist distributor, supplying business and consumer technologies in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, France, Australia, China and USA – www.cmsdistribution.com
About sysob
sysob IT-Unternehmensgruppe is one of the largest owner-managed value added distributors in the German speaking countries. sysob´s focus lies on providing trendsetting, market-standard IT-security, wireless LAN and server-based computing products – www.sysob.com
About Beyond Capital Partners
Beyond Capital Partners is an investment company advising its funds on the acquisition of majority shareholdings of profitable small- and medium sized enterprises in the DACH region, focusing on the asset-light segments business services, IT, Software, Healthcare, Lifestyle and Entertainment – www.beyondcapital-partners.com
Beyond Capital Partners acquires majority shareholding of value-added distributor Xortec GmbH
January 2021 Frankfurt am Main
Beyond Capital Partners GmbH (“BCP”) advised Beyond Capital Partners Fund II on the acquisition of a 75% stake in Frankfurt based Xortec GmbH (“Xortec”). The transaction was closed in January 2021.
Xortec is a leading value-added distributor of integrated video surveillance and data communication solutions. The focus of Xortec lies in the distribution of such professional equipment and a broad, accompanying range of services. Historically, Beyond Capital Partners already acquired two value-added IT distributors for its portfolio and hence, convinced the selling founders of Xortec with BCP´s successful and proven growth strategy approach.
The decision to opt for Beyond Capital Partners as new majority shareholder of Xortec is best described from Hubert Irka, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Xortec: “We were looking for a trustworthy partner with a same-eye-level-attitude and found that party in Beyond Capital Partners who convinced us through the positive experience gained during the transaction process”.
“Xortec as established and professional B2B servicer in the video surveillance and data communication solutions segment is known as being one of the fastest growing companies in its field in Germany and stands for many years for drive and quality. We are pleased to accompany the journey towards the next growth level together with the two founders. In the fragmented competitive landscape, we see a great opportunity to grow Xortec in the coming years both through a focused buy-and-build strategy and a broadened service portfolio and new customers across Europe to become one of the leading companies in the GSA region” states Christoph D. Kauter, Founder and Managing Partner of Beyond Capital Partners.
About Beyond Capital Partners
Beyond Capital Partners is an investment company advising its funds on the acquisition of majority shareholdings of profitable small- and medium sized enterprises in the DACH region focusing on the asset-light segments business services, IT, software, healthcare, lifestyle and entertainment.
www.beyondcapital-partners.com
About Xortec
Xortec is a leading value-added distributor of integrated video surveillance and data communication solutions. The focus of Xortec lies in the distribution of such professional equipment and a broad, accompanying range of services.
https://video.xortec.de/
Beyond Capital Partners acquires premium optician group “klein, aber fein” with 20 locations across Germany
June 2021 Frankfurt am Main
Beyond Capital Partners GmbH (“Beyond Capital”) advised Beyond Capital Partners Fund II on the acquisition of a 90% stake in Münster based OUNDA GmbH (“OUNDA”). The transaction was closed in May. With its 20 locations, OUNDA, which operates under the brand “klein, aber fein”, is one of the leading German optician groups in the premium market. Inside this steadily growing market segment of successful, independent and customer-needs focused opticians, OUNDA finds itself in the top ranking both in terms of revenues and number of locations across Germany. It was agreed among the parties to keep the purchase price confidential.
„Under the brand „klein, aber fein“, OUNDA offers an ideal home for successful and independent opticians who want to maintain their individuality, proximity for customers and employees and put a clear focus on customer satisfaction. It is our aim to continue to add new locations as “klein, aber fein” specialists in the German speaking markets”, says Christoph D. Kauter, Managing Partner of Beyond Capital Partners.
About Beyond Capital Partners
Beyond Capital Partners is an investment company advising its funds on the acquisition of majority shareholdings of profitable small- and medium sized enterprises in the DACH region focusing on the asset-light segments business services, IT, software, healthcare, lifestyle and entertainment.
www.beyondcapital-partners.com
About OUNDA
Additional information about OUNDA can be found under https://klein-aber-fein.info/.
Beyond Capital Partners disposes portfolio company EBERTLANG Distribution GmbH to HQ Equita
March 2019 Frankfurt am Main
Beyond Capital Partners GmbH (“Beyond Capital”) advised Beyond Capital Partners Fund I on the disposal of its portfolio company EBERTLANG Distribution GmbH (“EBERTLANG”) together with the founders to HQ Equita, the direct investment company of HQ Capital. The parties agreed confidentiality about the purchase price.
EBERTLANG is the central interface between small- and medium-size companies and leading software vendors. The company offers these vendors access to the highly fragmented German-speaking market, with more than 17,000 IT-system houses, and provides both software distribution as well as product and channel management, marketing, training and technical support. EBERTLANG guides system houses in executing managed services and SaaS concepts for their end customers. EBERTLANG uses its industry-leading business intelligence database and personalized customer care throughout the process.
Since the acquisition of EBERTLANG in May 2017, Beyond Capital developed the company together with its founders towards a new growth path and as a result, achieved significant increase of sales and revenue of the firm. From this level, EBERTLANG together with its new shareholder HQ Equita, will use the opportunity to further follow the organic growth path as well as the expansion through add-on acquisitions.
“EBERTLANG is a success story and has furthermore enormous potential. We are pleased to have actively accompanied the company and its founders during this important phase of growth. With HQ Equita, the company will have a financially strong, stable and reliable partner for its future growth. Since the founders remain as shareholding managing directors in the company, a high level of continuity is guaranteed,” says Christoph D. Kauter, Managing Partner and founder of Beyond Capital Partners.
“EBERTLANG is the ideal partner for small- and mid-sized companies to maintain their IT-infrastructure for the future and fulfilling ever-increasing regulatory requirements, such as legally compliant archiving of emails. EBERTLANG is optimally positioned and set up for megatrends including digitization, IT-security, cloud services and regulatory compliance. We are delighted to enter the next phase of EBERTLANG’s development, working together with the strong team that founders Steffen Ebert and Volker Lang have built,” explained Florian Wiemken, Partner at HQ Equita.
“With the support of HQ Equita, we plan to drive our already-strong growth even higher. In addition to expanding our solutions portfolio in the software area, we plan to significantly strengthen our service offerings – which IT professionals in the German-speaking countries already value – in order to offer even better support to system houses in all matters relating to sophisticated infrastructure,” explained Steffen Ebert, founder and Co-CEO of EBERTLANG. “Besides expanding our offerings, with help from HQ Equita we will also advance our upcoming national and international expansion – also through acquisitions,” added Volker Lang, second founder and Co-CEO. Discussions with potential acquisition targets have already been started.
Beyond Capital Partners was supported in the transaction by Lincoln International (M&A), Latham & Watkins (law) and EY (financials). The management of EBERTLANG was advised by CMS (law).
HQ Equita was supported in the transaction by goetzpartners (M&A, commercial due diligence, debt advisory), Alvarez & Marsal (financial due diligence) and Watson Farley & Williams (law and taxes).
About HQ Capital
HQ Capital is a global alternative asset manager that has been investing in private equity and U.S. real estate on behalf of institutions and family offices since 1989. With approximately $12 billion in assets under management and more than 145 employees across 10 offices worldwide, HQ Capital has the platform and experience needed to effectively allocate capital in private markets.
HQ Equita is HQ Capital’s private equity direct investment arm. HQ Equita has developed into an established and trusted partner for middle-market companies, with approximately $1 billion of capital invested in over 30 small- and medium-sized enterprises in the German-speaking DACH region since 1992.
About EBERTLANG
EBERTLANG is the leading value-added distributor of infrastructure software for small and mid-sized companies in German-speaking Europe. Founded in 1995 and based in Wetzlar, Germany, the company’s approximately 60 employees provide leading software solutions and services in the areas of email archiving, back-up, IT-security, automation and IT-failover to a network of around 17,000 partners.
About Beyond Capital Partners
Beyond Capital Partners is a holding company focused on acquiring majority interests in profitable mid-sized enterprises in German-speaking Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). With its portfolio companies LDBS Lichtdienst, Larsen Indoor Light Concept, Heitronic, sysob IT and BigCityBeats, Beyond Capital Partners currently holds interests in five businesses in the areas of lighting services, IT security and lifestyle & entertainment.
Beyond Capital Partners acquires shareholding in BigCityBeats GmbH to support global expansion of World Club Dome
October 2018 Frankfurt am Main
Beyond Capital Partners GmbH (“Beyond Capital”) advised Beyond Capital Partners Fund I on the acquisition of a majority shareholding in Frankfurt based BigCityBeats GmbH (“BCB”). The parties agreed confidentiality about the purchase price.
Since its inception in 2005, the BigCityBeats group established itself to one of the leading producers and hosts of stadium based events for club music and successfully created a global brand recognition under the trademark of „World Club Dome“. Jointly together with Beyond Capital Partners, the international roll-out of BigCityBeats and its brands and events “World Club Dome”, „World Club Dome – Winter Edition“, „Zero Gravity“ and „World Club Dome Cruise Edition“ will be furthermore promoted on a global level.
Bernd Breiter, CEO and founder of BigCityBeats, comments:
„Over the past 15 years, with gently effort and own resources, we built a globally established brand. In the past years we experienced a fast expansion of our event concept BigCityBeats WORLD CLUB DOME towards other countries. For that reason, we are used to walk the innovative and extraordinary mile. Hence, we started to convert entire cruise ships into swimming clubs as much as we did with airplanes and the ICE train. The maximum challenge and at the same time the most exciting project has been the joint project together with ESA European Space Agency to build the first agravic club through a Zero-G flight. During this event, we achieved a worldwide media presence of almost one billion people globally in February 2018. I anticipate in this expansion a huge potential for us wherefore we must expand our own resources. For the future expansion, we have been looking for a strong and like-minded partner on our side. Therefore, I am proud that we have decided to team-up with Beyond Capital Partners, a strong, professional and enthusiastic partner with whom I am going to realize my future projects on the one side while simultaneously keeping the spirit of a family-run company on the other side.”
„BigCityBeats and Family Breiter combine more than 20 years of successful expertise in the music and entertainment industry in Germany and stand as a testimonial with their brand „World Club Dome“ as being one of the most relevant and successful trademarks in the event and club music segment worldwide. The combination of their entire entrepreneurial commitment, a long-standing experience and the motivation to establish BigCityBeats on an even more global scale inspired and convinced us. All over the world, music events belong to the fastest growing segments in the lifestyle and entertainment sector and hence, offer a significant opportunity to enhance BigCityBeats´ already strong position over the coming years”, states Christoph D. Kauter, Founder and Managing Partner of Beyond Capital Partners.
About Beyond Capital Partners
Beyond Capital Partners is an investment company focusing on the acquisition of majority shareholdings of profitable small- and medium sized enterprises in the German speaking DACH region. With its portfolio comprising LDBS Lichtdienst, Larsen Indoor Light Concept, Heitronic, sysob IT, EBERTLANG Distribution and BigCityBeats, Beyond Capital Partners holds currently six investments in the fields of lighting services, IT-security and lifestyle & entertainment.
www.beyondcapital-partners.com
About BigCityBeats
Label, radio shows, club nights, event agency, merchandising company, live entertainment – BigCityBeats has been one of the most successful event brands in Germany for 15 years. BigCityBeats – the name says it all. The sound of the big cities. The metropolises. BigCityBeats brought this idea to life, and shortly after the turn of the millennium it catapulted into a platform that redefines event productions and has given its former stamp a completely new signature. From the big city into the world. From Frankfurt am Main to Asia. Europe. To the seas, the rails, the air, and almost to space, to zero gravity with the ESA. The creative mind behind this was, and remains, Bernd Breiter, who made a big name for himself as a music producer in the 1990s and now works with his team of 14 to put spectacular events together. Being satisfied with the laurels of success is not the credo of the Frankfurt-based institution that wrote event, music and club history with the first zero-gravity club (“Zero Gravity”), the “ICE Club Trains”, a flying club, the “BigCityBeats Club Jet”, or cruise ships and hotels converted into clubs for the WORLD CLUB DOME Cruise Edition – and which will certainly make even more history with future events as 2bp Communications, who puts on events locally!
www.bigcitybeats.de
https://worldclubdome.com/
Beyond Capital Partners at SuperReturn 2018
February 2018 Frankfurt am Main
Managing Partner Karsten B. Eibes gives a lecture on operational value enhancement in German SMEs on February 26, 2018 in Berlin: https://informaconnect.com/superreturn-international/agenda/1/?vip_code=FKR2455GOOGLEB
Beyond Capital Partners´ portfolio company LDBS Lichtdienst GmbH acquires through add-on acquisitions two lighting specialized firms to expand its established market position in Germany
Februarary 2018 Frankfurt am Main
Beyond Capital Partners Fund I (“Beyond Capital”) portfolio company LDBS Lichtdienst GmbH (“LDBS”) acquires a 100% stake in each of the two lighting service specialized firms Larsen Indoor Light Concept (“Larsen”) and Heitronic – H. Vollmer GmbH (“Heitronic”) and hence strengthens its competence in the area of market leading premium products and concepts for shop lighting solutions (Larsen) and enhances its portfolio of lighting products through an own strong brand (Heitronic).
LDBS is a leading lighting technology specialist in the German speaking region and offers B2B customers in the retail, shop and industrial sector solutions through a complete service portfolio in the field of lighting. With its integrated service concept and hence the combination of procurement expertise, product knowledge and a one-stop-shop service approach, LDBS shows a unique market position. Additionally, LDBS uses its online platform to market a broad product portfolio of lamps and lighting technology and offers its customers a full integration in their enterprise resource planning and therefore a direct order mechanism. Through the acquisition of Larsen, LDBS will significantly increase its competence in the conceptual design and planning process for shop lighting solutions. With the add-on of Heitronic, LDBS´ portfolio includes a strong own brand including lamps and lighting technic products which is highly demanded and well-recognized for decades from customers like DIY-operators, architects and electrical engineering providers. The closing of both transactions has been held recently.
“Through the acquisition of 100% in each of the companies and the implementation under the LDBS Group while maintaining the three brands, we will offer our B2B customers an even more extensive competence and product solution variety, intensifying our outstanding position as one-stop-shop specialist in the segment of complex and professional lighting services”, says Robert Bechtle, Managing Partner at LDBS. “In the course of our buy-and-build orientated growth strategy we will prospectively acquire and integrate further market competitors to further expand our position as one of the leading companies in lighting services in Germany and beyond.”
“With both acquisitions, we accompany LDBS´ in its focused strategy to offer a customer-centered, complete service with ensuring a comprehensive competence and quality at the same time. We are pleased to lift LDBS in its prosperous development through those two acquisitions to a new growth level and maintain on track to escort the firm on its way to become a European Champion in the lighting services business”, says Christoph D. Kauter, Founder and Managing Partner of Beyond Capital Partners.
Beyond Capital Partners is an investment company focusing on the acquisition of majority shareholdings of profitable small- and medium enterprises in the German speaking DACH region. The investment strategy comprises the sustainable support in the organic and external growth strategy of the portfolio companies.
