Noerr has advised VR Equitypartner on the acquisition of a minority stake in Grundig Business Systems (GBS), which is based in Bayreuth.
VR Equitypartner, one of the leading equity financers for SMEs in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, has acquired this minority stake in the GBS Group in order to support its planned further growth.
The transaction is subject to approval by the authorities. The parties have agreed not to disclose any details regarding the contracts.
The GBS Group provides electronic electronics manufacturing services (EMS) for the automotive, industrial and consumer electronics, railway, power station and medical technology, and professional speech processing products and solutions.
GBS was created by the spin-off of Grundig’s office equipment division in 2001. Since being acquired by INDUC, Mirablau and other co-investors in 2003, dictation technology has been transformed from analogue devices to digital complete solutions.
EMS was established as a second key business area and now accounts for two thirds of production volume, which is to be expanded further. The GBS Group currently has over 160 employees in Germany and France.
The existing shareholders involved in the investment company INDUC and the co-investors retain their majority stake in the GBS Group. The management team of the GBS Group will increase their stake by way of a re-investment.
VR Equitypartner is making the investment together with its subsidiary VR Equity Gesellschaft für regionale Entwicklung in Bayern mbH, which in the course of a partnership with the Free State of Bavaria was equipped with funds from the European Union for the promotion of innovative companies in Bavaria (European Regional Development Fund).
