Aquin Advises:
On The Sale To:
Key Terms
| > | With effect from January 29, 2015, Müller-Licht took over the StarLicht division of the ZETT Group. |
| > | Aquin acted as the exclusive M&A advisor to the ZETT Group and its shareholder Vorndran Mannheims Capital Advisors (VMCap). |
Strategic Logic
| > | Through the acquisition of StarLicht, Müller-Licht complements its own product portfolio with innovative LED lights, widens its sales channels with the existing customer base of StarLicht in the DIY sector and thus improves its position in the market significantly. |
| > | The divestment of StarLicht is part of the long-term corporate strategy by ZETT Optics with the aim to focus the group activities on high-quality LED lighting products for the B2B sector. The key requirements of the technologically less complex B2C business of StarLicht have markedly changed, now including e.g. packaging, logistics & time to market, which is why the two business fields today only fit together to a limited extent. |
StarLicht
| > | StarLicht is one of the most renowned manufacturers of lighting products for the European DIY-Market (DIY=Do-It-Yourself). For over 30 years, StarLicht has been supplying hardware stores, kitchen studios and furniture stores in Europe with LED lighting systems. |
| > | In 2014, StarLicht generated a turnover of about 20 million euros. |
ZETT Group & VMCap
| > | In 2011, the ZETT Optics Group, already part of the portfolio of VMCap, acquired LITE-LICHT GmbH from insolvency together with its business division StarLicht. In the following, StarLicht was retreaded and became a leading player in the European DIY-lighting market. |
| > | VMCap is one of the leading private equity firms in the German-speaking region with a total capital under management of approximately 800 million euros. |
| > | Müller-Licht specializes in manufacturing and sales of LED retrofit products. Since 2011, the company is part of the Wünsche-Group. |
| > | Wünsche Group, a family-owned group of companies active in several areas of international trade, is headquartered in Hamburg (Germany) and generates sales of about 450 million euros (2012) and among others counts Lidl, Aldi & Tchibo to its customers. |