Partner Letter
Wuppertal, March 29, 2021
Dear business friends and partners,
Founded in April 2019, MIB has quickly picked up speed. In 2020, we succeeded in finding customized solutions for three business successions. This was possible because we were able to play to our strengths:
- comprehensive expertise in the industrial SME sector and in the M&A business
- an experienced, well-coordinated management team
- Entrepreneurial shareholders with a long-term horizon
This is undoubtedly a dynamic start, which we are very pleased about and which confirms our concept. And at the same time an incentive for the tasks to which we have dedicated ourselves: to actively support the members of the existing MIB family in their development – and to expand the group with new, exciting companies.
In May 2020, we were able to realize our first investment with Kaschwig Schallschutz GmbH in Sendenhorst. Founded in 1978, the company has developed into a leading specialist in the field of industrial sound insulation, laser and light protection, dust protection, and accident and burst protection. Applications range from wood processing to the glass industry and recycling. Together with the managing director, we have set up a number of concrete projects based on a business model analysis that will take the company further forward.
In August 2020, Schwarz Abschirmtechnik in Hennef joined our group. A typical “hidden champion”: unknown to the general public, but renowned in its very specific niche and market leader in Germany. Based on decades of experience in high-frequency shielding, the company has a strong foothold in medical technology and government secret protection. In addition, industrial applications in the field of research and development centers are becoming increasingly important – right up to bug-proof meeting rooms. Both areas are seen as growing strongly in perspective.
In December 2020, we finally succeeded in making our third acquisition with the purchase of Verpackungstechnik Frielinghaus GmbH in Zülpich. The company manufactures hollow plastic containers for the pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food industries (BRC approval), among others. Its expertise in processing recyclates and bio-HDPE, which is produced on the basis of sugar cane, for example, opens up exciting prospects for the company in terms of sustainability and resource conservation. Here, too, we see our role as a shareholder in providing impetus and acting as a catalyst for profitable growth.
With Kaschwig Schallschutz, Schwarz Abschirmtechnik and Verpackungstechnik Frielinghaus, MIB Industriebeteiligungen has formed a group of well-positioned companies with attractive target markets in a short time. The full force and the entire network of MIB now support these companies in driving their development and actively shaping their respective markets.
In all three cases, we succeeded in shaping an acquisition tailored to the needs of the seller. The decisive factor was always the overall picture: mutual trust, an appropriate purchase price, security in the transaction and active support for the acquired companies after the purchase. In addition to the two managing partners, the shareholders of MIB are two institutions with close ties to the foundation. All shareholders have a decidedly long-term horizon in common. We operate free from the expectations of the capital market and are not accountable to any external financiers. No one at MIB is interested in maximizing returns in the short term. We are not concerned with the next quarterly results, but with the question of where our companies will be in two, three and five years’ time. Together, we are working to sustain the values and competencies that characterize our companies and to develop their potential. We offer entrepreneurs reliability, clear processes, fast decisions and transaction security.
What do you do when you acquire a company? You analyze the past and look to the future. That’s how we’re doing it in 2021, too. We’ve taken the momentum from our encouraging start into the new year. Many conversations confirm that our model fits the times. For entrepreneurs in particular, the pandemic is an opportunity to take stock. After all, the successes of the past make people justifiably proud, but are the tried-and-tested recipes enough to shape the future? Many see themselves at a crossroads – be it in the question of succession, be it in terms of upcoming strategic steps. Corona also teaches us that it is rarely good to put things on the back burner. For this reason, we have also expanded our MIB team internally and will also grow and strengthen our competencies with additional subsidiaries in the future.
Talk to us, let us talk. We are happy to contribute our decades of experience and our entrepreneurial understanding to an exchange of ideas.
In this sense: here’s to successful joint activities. We are looking forward to it!
Your MIB team,
Spartmann, Borges, Schrul
