CVC Capital Partners Fund VII has signed an agreement to acquire 100 per cent of STARK Group, a distributor of heavy building materials in Northern Europe. STARK Group has grown rapidly in recent years through successful acquisitions and organic growth with a strategic focus on being a trusted partner bringing scale benefits to professional craftsmen. The company has been owned by an affiliate of Lone Star Funds since April 2018.
Headquartered in Denmark, STARK Group is a leading B2B distributor of heavy building materials for the construction industry in the Nordics and Germany, with a focus on serving professional craftsmen. The business partners with 10,000 suppliers to serve c235,000 customers from more than 400 locations in Denmark (incl. Greenland), Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Germany.
“We are excited to partner with CVC to continue the journey we started together with Lone Star. We have enjoyed this collaboration, which has been instrumental in supporting us to achieve strong growth over recent years.” says Søren P Olesen, CEO, STARK Group. “We continue to see plenty of opportunities for further development and expansion both in respect of further organic growth and through accretive bolt-on acquisitions in the attractive markets in which we operate. We know CVC very well from the past and look forward to benefitting from their industry expertise, strategic insights and appetite to play an active role in future market consolidation. I could not imagine a better owner to support STARK Group going forward.”
Christoffer Sjøqvist, Senior Managing Director at CVC, adds: “We have followed STARK Group closely for many years and have been impressed with the quality of the business and its people. We are delighted to be supporting the company going forward and look forward to working closely with Søren P Olesen and his team to continue to grow STARK Group.”
The transaction is subject to customary conditions and approvals and is expected to close in Q2 2021. Legal and financial terms have not been disclosed.
STARK Group and Lone Star Funds were advised by Lazard. CVC was advised by Nordea and Rothschild & Co.
Upon completion, Søren Vestergaard-Poulsen, Managing Partner at CVC, will join the board of STARK Group as Chairman. Christoffer Sjøqvist will also join the board.
