EQT, Mubadala, and Cinven Take Over va-Q-tec AG
Posted on 03/04/2023
Fahrenheit AcquiCo GmbH is a holding company controlled by the EQT X fund (EQT Private Equity), supported by co-investors Mubadala Investment Company PJSC (Mubadala) and the Sixth Cinven Fund (Cinven). In February 2023, Fahrenheit AcquiCo exceeded the minimum acceptance threshold of 62.5% of all issued shares for its voluntary public takeover for va-Q-tec AG (va-Q-tec), securing more than 70% of all issued shares including the shares held by va‑Q‑tec’s founding families. The Management Board and the founding families will remain invested. va-Q-tec was founded in 2001 and is based in Würzburg, Germany. va‑Q‑tec develops, produces, and markets highly efficient and consequently thin vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) as well as phase change materials (PCMs) for reliable and energy-efficient temperature controlling. The offer from the buyers was revealed on December 13, 2022.
EQT Private Equity, supported by co-investors Mubadala and Cinven, launched the takeover offer for va-Q-tec, a provider of thermal energy efficiency and temperature-controlled supply chain solutions, on January 16, 2023. The takeover offer, which was recommended by the management and supervisory boards of va-Q-tec in the boards’ joint reasoned statement, is made in partnership with the founding families around Dr. Joachim Kuhn, va-Q-tec’s founder and CEO, and Dr. Roland Caps, founder and former Head of Research and Development. Together the founding families hold approximately 26% of the company’s current share capital and agreed to participate in the transaction by reinvesting a majority of their current participation.
Having reached the minimum acceptance threshold, EQT Private Equity and the co-investors look forward to strategically enabling va-Q-tec to realize its full potential. Together with the va-Q-tec management team, they will focus on growing va-Q-tec’s multi-end market products business, thereby doubling down on the company’s historically core USP in thermal energy efficiency to establish a global player in high-performance thermal insulation. Additionally, the group plans to combine va-Q-tec’s pharma-focused business and EQT Private Equity, Mubadala and Cinven-owned Envirotainer to create a one-stop-shop product offering that the buyers and va-Q-tec believe will be well suited to servicing customer demands for mission critical temperature-controlled supply chain solutions for pharmaceuticals. As part of the transaction, the buyers also has committed to investing in va-Q-tec’s further growth through a capital increase announced by the company.
With this acquisition, EQT X (target fund size of EUR 20.0 billion and hard cap of EUR 21.5 billion) is expected to be 10% to 15% invested (including closed and/or signed investments, announced public offers, if applicable, and less any expected syndication) based on its target fund size, subject to customary regulatory approvals.
Advisors
EQT Private Equity is supported by UBS Europe SE as its sole financial advisor and by Milbank as legal advisor. Mubadala is supported by Cleary Gottlieb as legal advisor.