Livingstone advises Gebauer & Griller on its divestment of the elevator cable business assets to Lafayette Mittelstand Capital

Livingstone’s Special Situations practice has advised Gebauer & Griller Kabelwerke Gesellschaft m.b.H. (“GG Group” or “The Company”), headquartered in Vienna, on a carve-out of the elevator cable business to Lafayette Mittelstand Capital (“Lafayette”). Terms of the agreement are undisclosed.

GG Group is sharpening its strategic focus by spinning off its elevator business, consisting of the sales unit located at the Vienna headquarters and two production sites in Veľké Leváre, Slovakia, and Bangalore, India. The Company will concentrate resources on the automotive industry’s growth areas: e-mobility, autonomous travel, and digitalization to foster innovation.

The strategic consolidation phase at GG Group, which began before Covid-19, reaches its next major milestone with the now completed transfer of the elevator division with approximately 400 employees to Lafayette. Under the new name “Geba Cables,” the elevator division will support its global customers in achieving their growth targets in the coming years.

The transaction has been designed to focus on long-term and sustainable development opportunities for the business units affected, involving employee representatives and safeguarding all existing employee rights, and represents a win-win situation for all parties involved.

“GG Group has been one of the leading producers of cables and wires for the elevator and escalator industry for four decades. Being very close to the customer and offering individual, building-specific solutions have made this division a profitable business for us. For this very reason, it is important for us to find a buyer for the respective parts of the company and locations, who will show full commitment to continue the successful course we have taken,” says Eva Schinkinger, CEO of the GG Group, about the currently completed transaction.

Matthias Ungerboeck, CEO of the new Geba Cables and Sandip Mehta, responsible for the Indian and Asian market of the new Geba Cables, added: “The market success of the elevator division in recent years, combined with the carve-out know-how and the financial resources of our broad-based new owner, is in our view the best prerequisites for serving the needs of our global customers even better and thus securing the growth and employment of our teams in Austria, Slovakia and India in the long term. With locations in Vienna, Slovakia, and India, the elevator business employs around 400 people and will now be managed under the new name Geba Cables. The product portfolio ranges from conventional flat cables to versions with integrated data elements and specific solutions with fiber optic cables. Moreover, customers are provided with customized just-in-sequence cable harnesses for each elevator system. In fiscal year 2019, the elevator division generated sales of around EUR 25 million. The elevator cables are used to connect the elevator car with the control unit to transmit power and data (e.g., infotainment and camera systems). Elevator cable harnesses and electrification packages are used in various applications: elevator control cable, shaft wiring, machine room, door wiring, and lamps or fluorescent tubes with connecting cables.”

“We are pleased with the acquisition of the three sites and thank all parties involved in the M&A process. This acquisition is an optimal addition to our investment portfolio, and we look forward to working with our new employees in the future,” commented a Lafayette spokesperson.

“We are very pleased that the management of GG-Group has given us the confidence to support them in an advisory capacity within the framework of the carve-out. It was particularly challenging to identify a suitable investor with the expertise to further develop the elevator division amid the global pandemic. The mandate was a great pleasure for us, and we would like to thank the management of GG-Group for the excellent cooperation,” says Dr. André Schröer, partner at Livingstone in Düsseldorf.

The sales process was supported by Rödl & Partner (Christoph Hinz) and DLA Piper (Dr. Christoph Mager, Legal) on the sell-side and by Binder Grösswang (Georg Wabl & Gottfried Gassner, Legal) on the buy-side.