January 2019: I-ADVISE AG supported the merger of Mayersche Buchhandlung KG and Best Of Books (B.O.B) with Thalia GmbH. The combination of 55 Mayersche bookstores in North Rine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate and the 300 Thalia stores in German speaking countries including Best Of Books (B.O.B) are forming Europe’s leading family-led bookseller.

Ongoing challenges in retail markets require innovative concepts and new alliances to sustain market success. Thalia and Mayersche are merging into an innovative bookseller with a strong regional footprint in the German speaking market, and the most successful omni-channel bookselling business. I-ADVISE provided Financial Due Diligence services to Mayersche and supported in all financial aspects of the merger.

I-ADVISE provided Mayersche Buchhandlung with Financial Due Diligence and financial advisory.

About Mayersche
In 1817 Mayersche Buchhandlung was founded in Aachen by Jacob Anton Mayer. It celebrated its second centenary anniversary in 2017 and is ever since its foundation a family owned business. Today Mayersche is run by the Falter family and is represented in 55 stores in the Western part of Germany. The Shop-in-Shop provider Best of Books is also part of the Mayersche business. In total, 1000 employees including 120 trainees are employed by Mayersche.

About Thalia
Thalia was established in 1919 in Hamburg and is market leader in retail bookstores in German-speaking countries. Thalia is owned by the Herder, Kreke, Busch and Göritz families. Thalia operates ca. 300 stores in Germany and Austria, including a 50% share in more than 30 Orell Füssli Thalia PLC bookstores in Switzerland. Thalia’s successful omni-channel strategy enables customers to access its products via all existing sales channels. Thalia employs 5,000 people.

Düsseldorf, November 2018: I-ADVISE continues its growth in valuation services and complements the valuation services team led by Dr. Jochen Beumer with Pia Brandenstein.

Pia Brandenstein is an expert in the field of valuation service with particular experience as auditor or independent expert appointed by the court in the context of German stock corporation laws and transformation laws. She also has a large consultancy track record being both German public accountant (Wirtschaftsprüfer) and German tax accountant (Steuerberater) Starting her career in a next-ten-auditory she changed to a specialist in valuation to finally reach I-ADVISE.

„We are very happy to welcome Pia on board as a well-renowned valuation expert“, so Dr. Jochen Beumer, Head of Valuation Services of I-ADVISE AG.

October 2018: Evonik is taking the next step in systematically focusing on specialty chemicals with the divestment of its US Jayhawk site in Galena, Kansas. The site produces precursors for agrochemicals, which are not included in the growth businesses defined by Evonik.
Jayhawk’s activities fall under the Agrochemicals & Polymer Additives business line in Evonik’s Performance Materials segment. Under a share deal, funds advised by the international investment firm Permira will acquire the site along with the company and its approximately 120 employees. The sale price is in the high double-digit million dollar range. The transaction is subject to approval by antitrust authorities in several countries.

I-ADVISE provided financial sell-side support to Evonik including the compilation of a financial fact book.

Permira is a global investment firm. Founded in 1985, the firm advises funds with a total committed capital of approximately €32 billion. The Permira funds have a long track record of successfully investing in industrial companies around the world and have invested over €4.6 billion in more than 20 companies. The CABB Group, headquartered in Sulzbach am Taunus, Germany, is a globally active producer of precursors, intermediates, and active substances for fine chemicals. With about 1,000 employees, the Group generates annual sales in the region of €450 million.

Evonik is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals. The focus on more specialty businesses, customer-orientated innovative prowess and a trustful and performance-oriented corporate culture form the heart of Evonik’s corporate strategy. They are the lever for profitable growth and a sustained increase in the value of the company. Evonik benefits specifically from its customer proximity and leading market positions. Evonik is active in over 100 countries around the world with more than 36,000 employees. In fiscal 2017, the enterprise generated sales of €14.4 billion and an operating profit (adjusted EBITDA) of €2.36 billion.

September 2018

Bad Blankenburg. Intercus GmbH retained I-ADVISE AG to assess options to fund its strategic growth perspectives. Such growth financing was provided by the new minority shareholder bm|t beteiligungsmanagement thüringen gmbh, Erfurt.

The cash injected into equity will support Intercus in its efforts to develop marketable product innovations and to expand into new regional markets.

„bm|t and Intercus form a partnership that is built on a long-term relationship and reliability. Intercus is therefore ready to cope with coming challenges and well-prepared to take advantage of new opportunities”, explained Thomas Busch, managing director of Intercus.

About Intercus

Since 15 years Intercus develops and manufactures implants in the field of traumatology and orthopaedy for domestic and international markets. Intercus specialises on polyaxial locking systems and innovative products enhancing wound healing.

Together with well-renowned clinics and universities from all over the world, Intercus’ R&D department seeks to develop new implants and to identify new materials. Intercus’ highest quality products are manufactured in a state-of-the-art production site in Thuringia.

About bm|t

Back in 2003, bm|t was founded by its sole shareholder Thuringia development bank (“Thüringer Aufbaubank”). Its funds are used to provide equity capital to younger and also well-established enterprises from Thuringia with particular growth perspectives. In general, equity financing is provided by Midcap Fund for Thuringia (“Mittelstands-Fonds Thüringen”) which is managed by bm|t.

Düsseldorf, February: I-ADVISE continues its growth in valuation services and complements the valuation services team led by Dr. Jochen Beumer with Klaus Jürgens.

Effective 1 February I-ADVISE hired Klaus Jürgens, an expert in the field of valuation service particularly in the banking and insurance industry. After his training as a banker he studied business administration at the WWU Münster and passed the exam as a German tax accountant (“Steuerberater”). In his professional career he worked at a Big4 Accounting and Advisory firm and an international insurance group.

„We are very happy to welcome Klaus on board as a well-renowned valuation expert“, so Dr. Jochen Beumer, Head of Valuation Services of I-ADVISE AG.

Düsseldorf, 1.2.2018: As part of the scholarship program ProTalent, I-ADVISE AG awards sponsorships to students at the Chair of International Accounting (IUR) at the Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster (WWU).

ProTalent is a scholarship program of WWU based on the German national scholarship program introduced by German government in 2011. The scholarship program of WWU is designed to support excellent students and to support education of young professionals. Frequent and regular contact and exchange of students with sponsors facilitate access to professional work experience.

Thanks to an improved financial independence sponsored students can focus on their studies and much better develop skills based on their talents.

Frank Berg, Partner of I-ADVISE AG, enthusiastically explains the commitment to the ProTalent scholarship program: „Sponsoring excellent performance and capabilities not only expresses our appreciation for talented and motivated students. We as a firm rate our role as sponsor as an excellent means to enter into exchange and discussion with tomorrow’s high performers. As a professional services firm we highly value quality and excellence not only in our work but also on the part of our employees. Participating in the scholarship program thus represents a consequent investment in the future success of our firm.“

The November issue of the I-ADVISE Spotlight “FITNESS – AN INDUSTRY IN MOTION” comments on fundamental trends, presents the leading European studio operators and provides information on the M&A activity in the industry.

Access the publication here.

Frankfurt, July 2017: In the sales process of Müller-Elektronik to publicly traded Trimble I-ADVISE acted on behalf of the founding families. The transaction was completed on July 3, 2017 after customary closing conditions, especially antitrust clearance by the cartel authorities, had been satisfied.

Trimble acquires one of the leading companies in agriculture electronics and precision farming with activities in Europe and in North and South America.

Since its foundation in Salzkotten, East Westphalia/Germany in 1977, Müller-Elektronik has been a pioneer and leader in the development of agriculture electronics with ground-breaking innovations, establishing ISOBUS hardware and software solutions for agriculture. Today Müller-Elektronik employs more than 375 people worldwide.

Trimble, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California/USA, is a leading provider of advanced GPS based positioning technologies and systems for a variety of industries and applications. In agriculture, Trimble’s solutions include guidance displays for parallel motion and steering systems, GPS/GNNS systems, flow and application control, operational management software and much more.

„The merger of Trimble and Müller-Elektronik and the combination of both systems is solely possible by establishing a partnership of these two companies creating significant potential in this industry“, Christian Müller, managing director of Müller-Elektronik, points out.

The I-ADVISE team led by Andreas Ewers (Partner, Frankfurt) supported the shareholders of Müller-Elektronik as financial advisor during the entire sales process.

I-ADVISE is an accounting and advisory firm specialised in transaction and valuation services and is member of an international alliance of independent advisory firms.

Düsseldorf, March 2017: WILO USA LLC, a subsidiary of WILO SE, acquired in an asset deal the operative business of the pump manufacturers Weil Pump Company, Inc. and Scot Pump Company and the component manufacturer Karak Machine Corporation. The three companies with about 140 employees are headquartered and produce in Cedarburg, Wisconsin.

“The aim of this acquisition is to increase our regional presence and to accelerate our development of the North American market. This transaction represents an important step forward in the implementation of our intensified globalization strategy,” explains Oliver Hermes, Chief Executive Officer. Eric Lachambre, Member of the Executive Board at WILO SE and responsible for mature markets, adds: “Furthermore, we increase our application expertise and strengthen our US activities in Building Services and Industry.”

WILO SE is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of pumps and pump systems for building services, the entire water management chain and industry. The company, whose sales reached more than 1.3 billion euros, has its eyes firmly fixed on the future and is heavily involved in research and development.

The team of I-ADVISE led by Frank Sichau supported WILO SE as financial advisor in this process and supported in negotiations with the sellers.

I-ADVISE is an accounting and advisory firm specialised in transaction and valuation services and is a member of an international alliance of independent advisory firms.

November 2016: With Andreas Ewers joining I-ADVISE AG, the advisory team has been complemented with another senior expert in transaction advisory services. Andreas has comprehensive experience in corporate management and consulting corporations and their investors.

Andreas started his professional career as transaction services advisor at Arthur Andersen and EY. He assisted private equity investors, listed corporates and medium-sized companies (“Mittelstand”) in transactions with a focus on financial buy-side and sell-side due diligence as well as vendor assistance.

As CFO of a PE portfolio company, amongst others Andreas successfully helped to develop and establish structures and processes required for a growing business (e.g. acquisition of business operations and subsequent integration, working capital optimisation, cost improvement measures) and fulfilling the demands of a financial investor.

“We are convinced that Andreas’ transaction expertise as well as his PE experience will strongly contribute to our excellence-based consultancy approach and I-ADVISE’s future sustainable growth” states Frank Berg, Partner at I-ADVISE.