Wintergerst provides full support to JACOB Elektronik GmbH in the implementation of a succession strategy

JACOB Elektronik GmbH, a leading IT solutions partner based in Karlsruhe, resolves the company’s succession issue with a management buy-out by the long-standing management team. Wintergerst Societät für Unternehmer-Beratung provided a full suite of services to the buyers during the transaction and the process of drawing up and implementing a financing concept.

With sales of over EUR 350 million and a workforce of approximately 400 employees, JACOB Elektronik GmbH is a leading IT solutions partner enjoying high growth. With a broad product portfolio, a high degree of automation and a highly-specialized team of consultants, the focus lies on offering a comprehensive suite of services to B2B customers. Over the past 30 years, JACOB Elektronik GmbH has been able to build up a broad customer base by offering bespoke solutions and wide-ranging business services, enabling it to realize sustained growth in revenue and earnings. In the course of realizing a long-term solution for the company’s succession, the long-standing management team acquired the shares in the company from its founding family.

“We are elated that we have been able to acquire the shares held by the Jacob family in the course of the succession and would like to thank the family for the many years of trusting and cooperative partnership. The last few months were extremely intensive for us, as we had to resolve numerous issues relating to the tax structures and contractual framework, particularly with regard to the financing of the acquisition, outside our daily business. "We are very happy and grateful that the team from Wintergerst provided a full suite of consulting services, supporting us in an extremely professional and trusting manner throughout the entire transaction and financing process,” says Christian Pochat, Managing Director and shareholder of JACOB Elektronik GmbH.

In addition to accompanying the buyers through every stage of the M&A process, the core task of the services provided by Wintergerst Societät für Unternehmer-Beratung during the transaction was the structuring and implementation of the necessary financing for the acquisition. This involved drawing up a tailored financing structure and approaching potential lenders and equity investors before coordinating them during the respective loan approval processes and drafting of the legal framework. In this regard a deal was made with a banking syndicate led by Sparkasse Karlsruhe which, with the use of various financing components, secures long-term financing of the acquisition and the provision of working capital.

“It was a great pleasure to accompany such a dynamic and successful management team throughout the transaction and see them grow over the course of the process,” says Bernd Grupp, the engagement partner at Wintergerst Societät für Unternehmer-Beratung. Christian Scharfenberger, who led the project and played a pivotal role in terms of planning and implementing the financing solution, adds: “The debt-financed MBO solution we came up with is a win-win situation for all involved and demonstrates that internal succession solutions are very much realizable using professional partners.”