Halder acquires bun producer Wback through MBO

Frankfurt, 4. July 2013. SME-investor Halder acquires Wback Group, Bönen/Germany, a leading producer of hamburger and hot dog buns for the fast food, food retailing and food industry segments through a management buy-out. The transaction completes management and ownership succession for the firm’s founders. In parallel to new majority owner Halder, management will become a shareholder. The parties involved have entered a binding sales agreement for the firm’s shares.

In 2004, Wback was established in Bönen (North Rhine-Westphalia) by Peter Wendeln. The new firm started serving clients in 2005 after completing a greenfield investment for its production facility. In 2008 capacity was doubled by opening a second new plant in Leipheim (Bavaria). Wback’s facilities represent the „state of the art“ and produce two million high quality buns per day. Located close to transportation hubs in the West and South of Germany, product distribution from both plants has easy regional and international access.

By focusing on a single product category, sophisticated technology and high quality, Wback has achieved high levels of service reliability. As a result, key clients from the fast food, food retailing and food industry segments have established strategic partnerships. Revenues had surpassed € 30  million in 2012, the average headcount was 131 for the year.

Matthias Geißler (Finance, Sales) and Dirk Hauer (Production, Technology) have been with Wback since the company’s beginning and are assuming overall management responsibility in addition to their existing line functions. Wback founder Peter Wendeln remains a shareholder and will support the company’s expansion plans. Growth prospects are based a. o. on existing clients’ commitment to additional fast food outlets and increasing new business from food retailers. Wback’s plans include an expansion of production capacity in Germany and abroad, marketing and sales will be stepped up. In 2013, the company foresees an increase of sales revenues to more than € 40 million, over the medium term, revenues are expected to double against the level attained in 2012.

Halder has been active in Germany since 1991 and has provided 35 SMEs with capital for ownership succession and growth. The firm invests from a fund with € 325 million in capital; Wback is the fund’s sixth holding (www.halder.eu).