Deal Announcement 07/20: Automotive

The Deal

The PwC M&A team is pleased to announce the successful sale of SaarOTEC GmbH (“SaarOTEC”) to a group led by SaarOTEC managing director Erika Schach (“Management”). PwC M&A acted as exclusive financial advisor to SaarOTEC shareholder Weber Automotive GmbH (“Weber Automotive”), the custodian (“Sachwalter”) Dr. Christian Gerloff and chief representative (“Generalbevollmächtigter”) Martin Mucha on this transaction.

Weber Automotive filed for insolvency under self-administration in July 2019 due to financial difficulties. Dr. Christian Gerloff of Gerloff Liebler Rechtsanwälte was appointed as custodian of Weber Automotive and initiated together with management and chief representative Martin Mucha of Grub Brugger a structured, international sale process which was led by PwC M&A and supported by PwC Business Recovery Services.

In the course of the overall sale process, SaarOTEC was acquired by the Management. All employees were taken over. The share purchase agreement was signed on 04^th June 2020 and the transaction was closed on 22^nd June 2020.

SaarOTEC GmbH

SaarOTEC is a German Tier-1 automotive supplier. It is a specialist in the metal processing of drive components for customers such as BMW and Volkswagen. The product portfolio comprises engine blocks, cylinder heads, drive housings and other drive components. In 2015, SaarOTEC was acquired by Weber Automotive. SaarOTEC generated approx. € 75m in revenues in 2019 and is headquartered in St. Ingbert, Germany. It currently counts approx. 250 employees.

PwC

The global PricewaterhouseCoopers network is a worldwide association of independent auditing and consulting companies which together employ more than 250,000 people in 158 countries. Our global network comprises nearly 1,550 M&A professionals all over the world, realising approx. 400 successful transactions per year. We specialise in a wide range of independent M&A services including advice on acquisitions and disposals, mergers, public takeovers, privatisations as well as structured financing.

The PwC M&A team was led by Martin Schwarzer (Partner) and Timo Klees (Partner) and comprised Wilfried Böckmann (Senior Manager), Niklas Nagel (Senior Associate), Christian Tempel (Associate), and Gregor Kohtes (Associate). A PwC Business Recovery Services team headed by Thomas Steinberger (Partner), Katherina Gasser (Manager) and Sebastian Kreitmayr (Manager) supported the process.