Equistone to acquire majority share in Kusters Beheer B.V.

Funds advised by Equistone Partners Europe (“Equistone”), one of Europe’s most active mid-market private equity firms, have agreed to acquire a majority stake in Kusters Beheer B.V. (“Kusters Beheer”). Kusters Beheer, headquartered in the Netherlands, is a leading group of six companies offering advanced manufacturing capacities for the production of high-tech precision components. The financial terms of the transaction are undisclosed and the transaction remains subject to approval from the relevant competition authorities.

Going forward, the group will be led by Geert Ketelaars and Adwin Kannekens, Managing Directors of Wilting, one of the companies that make up Kusters Beheer; they will take up the positions of CEO and CCO respectively. As part of the transaction, the founding family as well as the current management team will retain a significant minority stake in the group and continue their management positions.

Kusters Beheer, based in Oss in the Netherlands, is a major producer of high-tech precision mechanical components and modules for its international customer base, primarily in the semiconductor as well as aerospace, automotive, packaging, food and medical industries.  Founded in 1973, the group has a highly skilled staff of over 300 people and excels through its state-of-the-art machining and (clean room) assembly facilities, technological expertise (amongst others 3D metal printing) and specialist process knowledge.

Since inception, Kusters Beheer has grown considerably through the acquisition of complementary businesses that make up the group today, which consists of six companies – Kusters Precision Parts, Wilting, HFI, Jatec, Visietech Technical Products and TB Precision Parts – and has eight production facilities in the Netherlands, mostly in the high-tech region around Eindhoven.

“The partnership with Equistone is an exciting opportunity for us to further leverage the product and service portfolios as well as the wealth of knowledge and experience of the companies comprising the group. I am sure that this will be beneficial to fulfil our customer’s (future) demands,” says Adwin Kannekens, Kusters Beheer Group CCO.

“We are looking forward to working with Equistone as we further expand and professionalise our capacities and capabilities to grow both organically and acquisitively,” said Geert Ketelaars, Kusters Beheer Group CEO.

“The market in which Kusters Beheer operates is characterised by a constantly increasing demand for high-tech components and electronic applications with simultaneous, rapid technological advancements – a market with great potential for growth. Our goal is to support the management team through measures such as further investing into production capacity and technological capabilities, strategic add-on acquisitions, gaining new clients and expanding into neighbouring markets,” says Hubert van Wolfswinkel, Director in Equistone’s Amsterdam office.

Hubert van Wolfswinkel, Dr Marc Arens, Julia Lucà and Philipp Gauß led the transaction on behalf of Equistone. Equistone was advised by A&O (Legal), PwC (Debt, M&A, Financial, Tax, Commercial) and ERM (ESG).