The southern German precision farming specialist altek was successfully sold on January 1, 2020 to Idromeccanica Bertolini S.p.A., the Italian market leader.

Altek GmbH (“altek”), a member of the Wissler Group, is a global leader in the production and development of high-tech syringe components and complete systems for crop protection machinery. The company, headquartered near Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, supplies well-known manufacturers of crop protection machinery with a variety of self-developed, highly technological and know-how intensive products for the construction of crop protection sprayers. Altek operates in the global growth market of the agricultural industry, which shows a strong correlation to the development of the world population. With its innovative portfolio of highly efficient sprayer components (keyword agricultural technology 4.0) altek enables a precise and economical application of crop protection products and benefits from the current debate on the use of crop protection products.

Altek sets itself apart from its global competitors with a broad product portfolio tailored to the individual needs of OEM customers and positions itself clearly in the premium price segment with its durable quality products. The product portfolio ranges from special pumps and nozzle carriers to pressure regulators, special valves and the company’s own electronic controls.

In the financial year of 2018, the company generated consolidated sales of more than EUR 10 million with an EBITDA margin of over 10% with around 70 employees.

Despite its historically consistently high profitability, the company had to file for insolvency on July 1, 2019. The application resulted from the cross-guarantee system with the other companies of the Wissler Group, which are active in business areas other than their own.

For the insolvency proceedings in debtor-in-possession management, the competent local court in Esslingen appointed Dr. Tibor Braun, attorney at law, from the Stuttgart law firm Illig, Braun & Kirschnek as (provisional) trustee. Within the scope of the debtor-in-possession management, the management of altek was accompanied by the attorney Markus Fröhlich of the Friedrichshafen law firm Fröhlich Rechtsanwälte. The proceedings were opened on September 1, 2019. FalkenSteg was commissioned by the self-administration to carry out a marketing process.

In an international M&A process, Idromeccanica Bertolini S.p.A. (“Bertolini”), a specialist in the development and production of agricultural and industrial pumps from the vicinity of Modena, prevailed over other strategic interested parties. Bertolini will take over the business operations of altek including all assets and employees as of January 1, 2020 by way of an asset deal. Bertolini expects the transaction to generate synergy effects at product, production and customer level. The product portfolio of the Italian pump specialist will be complemented by the altek product categories and excellent access to German and European customers. Mr. Thomas Schwert will continue to accompany the company into the future as Managing Director.

Trustee
Illig, Braun und Kirschnek
Dr. Tibor Braun

www.rae-ibk.de

Debtor-in-possession management
Fröhlich Rechtsanwälte
Markus Fröhlich

www.froehlich-rae.de

Advisory M&A
FalkenSteg Corporate Finance
Jonas Eckhardt (Partner)
Enis Lütkenhöner (Associate)

Company
altek GmbH

www.altek-gmbh.de

Acquirer
Idromeccanica Bertolini S.p.A.

www.bertolinipumps.com