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I agreeAfinum turns 20 years old and records the most active transaction year in its company history with three new investments, nine add-on acquisitions and five exits.
Founded at the beginning of 2000 by Dr. Thomas Bühler and Dr. Gernot Eisinger, Afinum has become one of Germany’s leading investors in medium-sized businesses, with currently over EUR 1bn in equity under management and a team of 25 employees. With a team located in Munich and Zurich the sixth fund generation, launched at the end of 2017 with a volume of EUR 410m, is currently being invested, and is expected to have deployed approximately two-thirds of its commitments by mid-2020.
Over the last twelve months, a total of 17 transactions were completed, more than ever before in the company’s 20-year history. New platform investments were made into the companies all4golf, FastLTA and most recently Lemco. The portfolio companies Liftket and Garz & Fricke each made two strategic add-on acquisitions. The investment platforms It Works, Cotta, Zeit für Brot, Empolis and Görtz each completed one add-on acquisition.
The investments Sinnex, TKS, Avantgarde, Midoco and most recently Meridian Spa & Fitness, which was sold to the English David Lloyd Leisure Group, Europe’s largest operator of fitness & wellness clubs, were successfully exited.
The team is already working intensively on further portfolio investments and add-on acquisitions in the current year. The focus for new investments continues to lie on medium-sized companies with growth ambitions, which can, for instance, be acquired in the context of a succession solution. However, carve-outs, as recently at Ledlenser, and attractive minority shareholdings will also continue to be examined selectively.
For our team, the strategic approach to investments is always based on a fitting combination of the right people, situation and industry. In recent years, the implementation of a strategic organisation structure is seen as increasingly important next to forming sustainable growth patterns. Here, Afinum can make a major contribution not only through its historical experience, but also through a separate Human Resources department, which was expanded for this purpose at the beginning of 2019 and is headed by Kerstin Diebenbusch.
In addition to recruiting new junior team members, the following forward-looking team promotions and extensions were recently carried out: Partners: Burkhard v. Wangenheim, Kai Roolf; Investment Directors: Torsten Schneider, Elias Tuerk; Investment Managers: Maximilian Fleck, Dr. Marcel Maier and Andreas Hufnagl. The finance department was strengthened by the new Co-CFO Anton Bergmann.