VR Equitypartner Acquires Minority Stake in Informatik Consulting Systems AG

May, 2019 - Germany

Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek and a team led by Dr. Rainer Herschlein and Benedikt Raisch advised Frankfurt-based investment firm VR Equitypartner GmbH on the acquisition of a minority stake in Informatik Consulting Systems AG (ICS). The acquisition is made as part of a succession plan and aims to consistently implement ICS’s successful expansion course.

The company will continue to be managed by Cid Kiefer, CEO and shareholder, who will hold the majority stake in the company jointly with two other shareholders in the future. The former passive family shareholders, the Winkel and Hämer families, are leaving the company. Together, the shareholders intend to expand the range of services offered and examine the opening of new sites and the acquisition of companies. Additional specialists are to be hired to adapt the organizational structure to the company’s increasing size.

VR Equitypartner GmbH is a leading equity financing firm in the Germany-Austria-Switzerland region. VR Equitypartner supports medium-sized family businesses with decades of experience in the strategic solution of complex financing issues. VR Equitypartner consistently puts sustainable corporate developments before short-term exit considerations.

VR Equitypartner’s portfolio currently comprises some 100 commitments with an investment volume of EUR 500 million.

Stuttgart-based ICS AG is a family-managed IT consulting and engineering company that has been developing solutions for complex IT environments for more than 50 years. The company employs about 120 people at four sites in Germany and a subsidiary in Switzerland. ICS is operating in the Transportation (control and security technology for railway infrastructure), Industrial Engineering (maintenance of IT systems in logistics and production), and Information Security (development, certification, and operation of information security systems) sectors.

VR Equitypartner was again advised by Dr. Rainer Herschlein and his team of lawyers on the transaction. Most recently, the team had advised VR Equitypartner on the sale of its majority stake in vohtec Qualitätssicherung GmbH.

Counsel to VR Equitypartner GmbH
Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek:

Dr. Rainer Herschlein, LL.M. (Lead, M&A),
Benedikt Raisch (Lead, M&A),
Cornelia Schwizler (Corporate / M&A),
Dr. Markus Klinger (IT/IP),
Dr. Felix Drefs (IT/IP),
Dr. Anne de Boer LL.M. (Finance),
Andreas Lutz (Real Estate),
Dr. Antonia Stein (Employment),
Dr. Nicole Armingeon (Public Law), all Stuttgart
Fabian G. Gaffron (Steuerrecht), Hamburg
Dr. Ruth Schneider (Commercial), Munich

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