Dieter Braun Group Investment
| Company | Dieter Braun Group |
| www | www.kabelkonfektion.com |
| Initial Investment Date | October 2013 |
| Exit | January 2017 |
| Entry Valuation | 20.6m |
| Exit Valuation | 65m |
| Total Investment | 10.7m |
| Current Sale Value | 52.9m |
| 2017 Revenue | 77.1m |
| 2017 EBITDA | 12.5m |
| Initial Ownership | 85% |
| Investment Type | Replacement Capital |
| Seafort Role at Entry | Sole Institutional Investor |
| Co-Investors | Management |
| Multiple at Cost | 4.9x |
| Gross IRR | ~71.5% |
Business Description and Investment Thesis
Dieter Braun GmbH serves the automotive industry with integrated solutions in the field of cable systems and lighting. Braun has developed into a system solution provider for Tier 1 suppliers for automotive OEM’s. In addition to cable assembly, the Company assists in the development of technology harness and complete systems such as in vehicle interior lighting ensuring optimized product specifications. Braun’s primary product focus is on signal emitting solutions with a specialty in backlighting of automotive interior applications. Braun has locations in the USA, Czech Republic, Ukraine and China.
Key Investment Considerations
The company had outsourced production from Bavaria to Tcheque Republic and Ukraine and reduced production cost tremendously. The strong growth in the cabling segment in cars with more ambient lighting and electric mobility foresaw a strong growth over the next years to come in 2013. The new site in Mexico had to grow with the Tier 1 and Tier 2 customers and gave additional growth phantasy.
Role of Seafort Advisors
Seafort analyzed and discussed the investment program with management and developed a growth strategy for Europe and the US. We increased the capex program from 1% to 5% of revenues to cope with growing demand and focused on high margin projects as well as discontinuing low margin products.
Exit and Valuation
The company grew faster than in our original investment thesis with EBITDA growing from €4m to €12 in three years. Internal growth and multiple expansion from 4x to 6x lead to a highly attractive 5x money invested in a short time frame with more than 70% IRR.