Livingstone advised vitronet GmbH, a portfolio company of Funds advised by Deutsche Beteiligungs AG (DBAG), on their acquisition of Heinz Lütkemeier GmbH & Co. KG, a regional expert specialized in underground and utility construction with a focus on the installation of fiber optic networks. The parties have agreed not to disclose details of the transaction.
Lütkemeier Group has been a family-run business from the Ruhr area for over 30 years, with its headquarters in Essen. The company offers underground, cable and horizontal drilling lines and has established itself as a reliable partner for the construction of network infrastructure, particularly in the telecommunications industry. Its customers are municipal utilities, municipalities and network operators. As a subcontractor in FTTH infrastructure construction (FTTH: Fibre to the home), the Lütkemeier Group has already cooperated with the vitronet Group successfully in the past.
From its headquarters in Essen and five other locations throughout Germany, vitronet Group acts as a general contractor for nationwide fibre-optic and telecommunication infrastructure projects. As a partner of energy suppliers, network providers, industrial companies and municipalities, vitronet offers comprehensive services including planning activities, underground construction services, cable pulling, assembly and maintenance work. In addition, the company also offers its customers a company-owned network of dark fiber lines.
Heinz Lütkemeier GmbH & Co. KG is the third add-on acquisition of vitronet since the entry of DBAG advised funds in 2017. “With over 250 employees, vitronet Group realizes more than 1,000 kilometers of fiber optic lines and more than 20,000 FTTx house connections every year, thus making a significant contribution to the expansion of the fiber optic infrastructure in Germany. In order to help meet the constantly growing expansion demand in Germany, it is essential for us to continuously strengthen our group’s own underground construction capacities in addition to our numerous successful partners. In this context, our sector-focused buy-and-build strategy is proving to be successful with this transaction,” commented Marc Lützenkirchen, CEO of the vitronet Group.
After successfully managing the succession of generations within the family with the appointment of Björn Lütkemeier as Managing Director, Lütkemeier Group is now joining forces with vitronet Group as a strong partner at their side, with whom Lütkemeier Group not only shares regional ties, but also many years of experience in an attractive market segment and the same understanding of the market approach. Björn Lütkemeier will continue to run the company under the umbrella of vitronet Group. The transaction is also good news for the employees of Lütkemeier Group, as the company, together with vitronet, will jointly develop the entire group and contribute to the broadband cable network expansion in Germany.
Christian Grandin, Partner at Livingstone Düsseldorf, commented: “This is already the sixth successful transaction we have completed for the vitronet Group since 2009 and emphasizes not only our long-standing successful partnership, but also our special expertise in the field of telecommunications/ broadband expansion in Germany.”
Matthias Krause, CFO of the vitronet Group, added: “We have collaborated in numerous transactions with the team of Livingstone, headed by Christian Grandin and Johannes Faber, successfully for the last ten years. We strongly appreciate their professional and goal-oriented advisory approach in the various m&a-related occasions, comprising sell-side support, the raising of new capital or buy-side support realizing our strong growth ambitions.”
In addition to the acquisition of Heinz Lütkemeier GmbH & Co. KG by vitronet Group as well as the original sale of vitronet to Funds advised by DBAG in 2017, the Livingstone Deal team also successfully advised on the recently published platform investment of DBAG in STG Braunsberg Group.
