News

Oak Hill Advisors and Perlitz Strategy Group has agreed to acquire the assets of MWS, a German provider of components for the automotive and industrial markets. No financial terms were disclosed. Rödl & Partner was legal and tax adviser on the transaction.

PRESS RELEASE

NEW YORK and LONDON and MANNHEIM, Germany, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Oak Hill Advisors, L.P. (“OHA”) and Perlitz Strategy Group GmbH & Co. KG (“PSG”) announced today the signing of an agreement to acquire the assets of MWS Friedrichshafen GmbH (“MWS”) from insolvency administrator Mr. Arndt Geiwitz. The assets will be acquired by newly formed and separate entities DGH Sand Casting Production GmbH & Co. KG and DGH Sand Casting Corporate GmbH & Co. KG (collectively, “DGH Sand-Casting Group” or “the Company”) and will continue to be headquartered in Friedrichshafen, Germany.

MWS, with annual turnover of approximately €60 million, is a leading supplier of complex, aluminum sand-casted components primarily for the automotive and industrial markets. Its customers include premier automotive manufacturers such as Audi, VW, and BMW, and Tier-1 auto suppliers, such as American Axle. The predecessor entities filed for insolvency in November 2016 and continued to serve customers with uninterrupted operations throughout the insolvency process.

Mr. Harpreet Anand, a Managing Director at OHA who leads the firm’s investments in the automotive sector said, “We are very excited about the MWS transaction and to be partnering with PSG. We look forward to working with Mr. Offinger in further strengthening MWS’ capabilities, while leveraging its customer and end-market diversification and growing in the area of E-Mobility.”

Andreas Offinger, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of PSG, will serve as the interim CEO of the Company. Andreas Offinger has over twenty years of extensive international experience in the areas of strategy, restructuring, finance and M&A. He has held twelve CRO and interim management positions in the automotive industry. PSG was intimately involved in all financial and commercial aspects of the transaction.

Mr. Andreas Offinger said, “We are very pleased to be teaming up with OHA on this exciting acquisition. Throughout its challenging insolvency period, MWS and its employees continued to manufacture highly complex sand-casting components while maintaining a superior level of quality and service for its customers. Accordingly, we would like to thank everyone involved in the process including customers, employees, suppliers, and union representatives who all contributed to this success. We intend to leverage the Company’s existing competencies and highly-skilled workforce to establish DGH Sand-Casting Group even further as a world-class supplier and a value-added partner for our customers.

Rödl & Partner served as legal and tax advisor.

About Oak Hill Advisors
Oak Hill Advisors is a leading independent investment firm with approximately $33 billion of capital under management. OHA has over 25 years of experience investing in a variety of asset classes, including performing and non-performing corporate credit, shipping, real estate, aviation and structured products as well as private equity. The firm’s investment activities are concentrated in North America and Europe. OHA manages multi-strategy and single strategy credit funds, distressed funds, collateralized loan obligations, other customized mandates and a business development company. The firm’s investment activities are driven by a fundamental value-oriented philosophy focused on credit analysis, relative value analysis, risk-adjusted return generation, loss avoidance and active risk management. The firm invests on behalf of a diverse, global investor group. OHA employs more than 300 people globally and is headquartered in New York, with other key offices in London, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Sydney and Fort Worth, Texas.

About Perlitz Strategy Group GmbH & Co. KG
Perlitz Strategy Group (PSG) is an internationally operating, mid-sized management consultancy based in Mannheim, Germany. PSG specializes in corporate strategy, business development, reorganization/ restructuring, sales management and innovation management. Its industry focuses are the automotive, mechanical engineering, metal, electrical, chemical and process industries.