Handelsblatt, Anja Müller, Arno Schütze
After six years, the investor EQT is parting ways with the prosthetics manufacturer. The closing is planned for January 2024.
The Näder family holding company intends to once again become the 100% owner of the prosthetics manufacturer Ottobock. Handelsblatt learned this from the family on Friday evening. Näder plans to finance the repurchase of a 20% stake currently held by the financial investor EQT with funds from private credit funds. With the assistance of the banks Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, the family holding company is currently in the process of arranging financing. The closing is already planned for January 2024. EQT and the banks declined to comment.
The year 2023 has been excellent, said majority owner Hans-Georg Näder. CEO Oliver Jakobi and his leadership team achieved double-digit growth. The figures for the full year are not yet known, but at the end of August, Ottobock reported revenue growth of 17% and an increase of 16% in adjusted EBITDA for the first half of 2023. Furthermore, the company had announced its intention to surpass the €1.5 billion mark for the first time in 2023.
Hans-Georg Näder chairs the supervisory board of Ottobock. EQT’s representative on the board, Marcus Brennecke, will be leaving the board, while the other three non-family representatives, Stefan Heidenreich (deputy chairman), Michael Kaschke, and Joachim Kreuzburg, will remain on the board, it was stated. At the same time, the entrepreneur announced that his daughter Georgia will assume responsibility for the French business.
Ottobock: Prosthetics Manufacturer Planned IPO in 2022 Almost exactly one year ago, it became known that the private equity firm EQT was preparing to sell its stake in Ottobock. At the time, the potential sale of the stake to another investor, such as a sovereign wealth fund, at a valuation of €5-6 billion was being discussed. In May 2022, the prosthetics manufacturer had stated its intention to go public in the same year. Shortly thereafter, however, the then CEO Philipp Schulte Noelle and CFO Kathrin Dahnke left the company.
The IPO environment was already difficult in 2022, and this situation hardly changed in 2023. Recently, Birkenstock ventured onto the stock exchange in New York. However, most IPOs are trading below their issue price, which is also weighing on the sentiment of other potential IPO candidates. Investment bankers doubt that there will be many IPOs in the coming months. Preparations are nevertheless ongoing. Among others, wheelchair manufacturer Sunrise Medical is planning an IPO in 2024, according to information obtained by Handelsblatt.