IT-Service Leipzig GmbH launches new strategic partnership with viridiusLab AG

Livingstone acted as exclusive M&A advisor for WMS Wachstumsfond Mittelstand Sachsen, S-Beteiligungen Leipzig, as well as other shareholders, who jointly sold the majority of shares in IT-Service Leipzig GmbH to the testing laboratory group viridiusLAB AG from Vienna/Austria. The new strategic partnership is intended to further develop the business field of “laboratory testing” and to expand into additional regions. The current managing directors Thorsten Schmidbauer and Matthias Spieß will continue to manage and lead the company in the future.

Founded in 1992, IT-Service Leipzig GmbH has been a portfolio company of the WMS Wachstumsfonds Mittelstand Sachsen and S-Beteiligungen Leipzig since 2015. The company is a service provider for devices, equipment, and accessories as well as service and maintenance for non-destructive material testing. In the past few years, it has established itself as a leading service provider for non-destructive testing and measurement technology (NDT), especially in the environment of industrial equipment testing and medical technology in Germany with a predominant focus on trading of isotopes and the handling of mission critical irradiated consumables for non-destructive testing. IT-Service Group provides its services to national and international customers from its three locations in Leipzig, Haan (close to Düsseldorf) and Henrichenburg (close to Bottrop) and is also a shareholder in the northern-German Metritec GmbH and in Belgian OSERIX SA.

viridiusLAB AG was founded in 2021 and operates as a testing laboratory group in the field of environmental, food and pharmaceutical analysis as well as materials testing in the Central European market. The group operates testing laboratories in Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Austria and offers its services worldwide. More than 500 employees analyze around 6,000 samples per day for customers across all industries. With a sustainable growth strategy, viridiusLAB aims to offer high-quality analytics and the best possible service.

As part of the transaction, most of the shareholders sold their shares to the new owner viridiusLab AG. However, Thorsten Schmidbauer and Matthias Spieß, who have been serving as managing directors of the company for many years, decided to remain on board as shareholders and managing directors, thus ensuring continuity in the customer relationship, and strengthening confidence in the new partnership.

Thorsten Schmidbauer, Managing Director of IT-Service Leipzig GmbH, comments: “We are highly motivated and look forward to implementing new projects together with virdidiusLAB AG and further increasing our customers’ satisfaction. We are convinced that this partnership will expand our reach and open up new opportunities for us.” Matthias Spieß, Managing Director of IT Service Leipzig GmbH, adds, “With our combined resources and experience, we will be able to form a successful future. We will maintain our passion for the customer and service as we embark on an exciting journey together to achieve our business goals.”

Marcello Nicoloso, CEO of viridiusLAB AG, says: “As an operator of testing laboratories, we are not only active in the environmental and food sector, but also carry out material testing in specialized laboratories. By acquiring majority shares in IT -Service Leipzig GmbH, we are expanding our portfolio and our offering in this high-growth market and position ourselves more broadly as a group overall. We quickly recognized the potential of IT-Service Leipzig GmbH’s products and services, and we would like to thank the WMS Wachstumsfonds Mittelstand Sachsen and the departing shareholders for their trust. We look forward to working with our new colleagues in Leipzig to further expand the business.”

“IT-Service Leipzig is a market-leading company with many established customer relationships. We are pleased to have been able to conduct this sale to this growing group of companies and consider the new constellation to be a promising and expanding player on the NDT market. We are convinced that the two managing directors Thorsten Schmidbauer and Matthias Spieß will successfully develop the company together with the new partners”, says Harald Rehberg, Managing Director of WMS. “I would particularly like to thank the deal team at Livingstone for their professional support and detail-oriented execution of this transaction. Thanks to the outstanding commitment and placement power within both the national and international strategic acquirer environment, this transaction was completed in the best interest of the selling shareholders from the initial market approach to the successful closing.”

Johannes Faber, Partner at Livingstone, adds: “It was a pleasure to advise the shareholders of IT-Service Group, the German market leader in isotope trading and in the trade, service and maintenance of products and equipment for non-destructive material testing, on this transaction. The cross-border combination of the leading technology know-how of the IT-Service Group with the international presence of the testing laboratory chain of viridiusLab AG opens up great opportunities in the future for all parties and the potential to open up new business areas as well – a win-win-win situation for sellers, buyer as well as the target company and its employees.”

Following the successful sale of Zehnder Pumpen to French Groupe SFA, this is the second successful exit that Livingstone’s Deal Tam was able to advise on for the WMS Wachstumsfonds Mittelstand Sachsen.