Perusa Partners Fund 2, has sold Swedish SEM Group to Procuritas Capital Investors V LP. Perusa Partners acquired SEM in 2012 and over the last three years has seen the company increase its revenues by 30 per cent to circa EUR35 million while doubling its profits to circa EUR8 million.
Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
SEM was founded in 1915 and is nowadays one of the world’s leading producers of electronic ignition and control systems for combustion engines, including heavy- and medium-duty vehicle engines, natural gas engines and small engines for handheld equipment. SEM serves its blue chip customer base from two state-of-the-art production facilities in Sweden and China with a total staff of circa 220.
“Benefiting from our experienced and motivated staff in Sweden and China as well as Perusa’s active involvement, we have been able to develop SEM into a dynamic and highly profitable company which operates very successfully in the attractive and growing markets for electronic ignition and control systems for combustion engines,” says Tom Gustavsson, CEO of SEM AB.
Dr Hanno Schmidt-Gothan, Partner at Perusa GmbH and advisor to Perusa Partners Fund 2 LP, adds: “We believe that with the established technological and operational capabilities, SEM is well placed to benefit from stricter environmental and fuel economy requirements in the future.
“Besides strengthening the technological portfolio, during Perusa’s ownership, the Chinese facility developed from a pure production plant to a full-fledged company, with its own sales force and engineering capabilities. Also, in Sweden, productivity has been increased by more than 20 per cent through systematic performance improvement.”
With SEM, Perusa executes the first exit within its Nordic investment portfolio, which it had started to build in 2011 by the acquisition of Dynasafe International AB. Building on its knowledge of the local market, Perusa expanded its Nordic footprint.
