Alantra advises Rieter on the acquisition of three businesses from Saurer

Aug 2021

Buy-side advisory

Value €300 million

Zurich – Alantra, the global investment banking and asset management specialist, has advised Rieter Holding Ltd. (“Rieter” or the “Company”) on its €300 million acquisition of Accotex, Temco and the Schlafhorst automatic winder business from Saurer Netherlands Machinery Company B.V. (“Saurer Netherlands”), the parent company of Saurer Spinning Solutions GmbH & Co. KG and Saurer Technologies GmbH & Co. KG.

Headquartered in Winterthur, Switzerland, Rieter is the world’s leading supplier of systems for short-staple fibre spinning and is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. The Company develops and manufactures machinery, systems and components used to convert natural and manmade fibres and their blends into yarns. Rieter is the only supplier worldwide to cover both spinning preparation processes and all four end-spinning processes currently established on the market. Furthermore, Rieter is a leader in the field of precision winding machines. With 15 manufacturing locations in ten countries, the Company has a global workforce of more than 4 000 employees, of which 20% are based in Switzerland.

Saurer Group (“Saurer”), with its ultimate parent company Saurer Intelligent Technology Co. Ltd. listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, is a leading global technology company focused on innovations for the processing of fibre and yarn, including machinery, components and software.

With this transaction, Rieter will complete its offering of ring and compact spinning systems by acquiring the Schlafhorst automatic winder business. Additionally, Rieter will invest in two attractive components businesses: Accotex (elastomer components for spinning machines) and Temco (bearing solutions for filament machines). In total, the three businesses had a combined turnover of €142 million in 2020, despite the disruptions of COVID. In 2019 and 2018, the businesses had a total combined turnover of €235 million and €260 million respectively.

In the first step of this transaction, Rieter will acquire 57% of the shares of Saurer Netherlands. The shares will be returned to Saurer after the implementation of the transaction in six to nine months.

Kurt Rüegg, Managing Partner at Alantra, commented: “We are delighted to have supported Rieter on this highly strategic transaction. We will continue to work closely alongside Rieter during the implementation phase. This transaction closely follows our previous work with Rieter on the acquisition of SSM and a number of other projects.”