New exit: SCHLUCKWERDER

We are pleased to announce the sale of Schluckwerder, one of Qualitas Funds I portfolio companies, to Valeo Foods, an Irish based food business company.

The Schluckwerder Group is one of the leading manufacturers and distributors of marzipan, nougats and chocolate sweets for the German retail industry. Since its acquisition in December 2018 GP has taken over the management of the company and led the succession plan to replace the previous owner with a completely new management team.

The  GP’s strategic policies have contributed to the important developments of the company over the past two years. The current economic crisis caused by the COVID 19 has not negatively impacted the business, quite the opposite. Schluckwerder has improved its position in the market thanks to the strength of its business model and the efforts made by all its employees.

GP´s key actions and achievements during the holding period of Schluckwerder:

• Optimizing various production processes, which have led to significant improvements in production time and costs.
• Implementing new marketing initiatives to attract more customers and retain existing ones to improve its market positioning.
• Redesigning its product offering by adjusting it to a greater extent to customer demand.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is anticipated to complete in 2021Q1. This transaction is estimated to generate c.3.8x return on invested capital or >120% gross IRR.