Deutsche Private Equity Sells iloxx AG to DPD
28 June 2011
Deutsche Private Equity Sells iloxx AG to DPD
Successful development of iloxx AG from thriving internet start-up to strongly growing logistics service provider to e-commerce clients
Nuremberg /Munich, 28 June 2011.
Funds advised by Munich-based DPE Deutsche Private Equity GmbH (“DPE“) sold Nuremberg-based iloxx AG (“iloxx“) to DPD, an Aschaffenburg-based international express and parcel service operator which is part of French La Poste. The acquisition of iloxx allows DPD to grow more aggressively in the promising B-to-C market. The parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price or any further details of the transaction.
Established in 1999 as an internet start-up, iloxx AG operates in a niche of the €51 billion European logistics services market: it specializes in the shipment of parcels and large and fragile goods for small and medium-sized e-commerce companies with complex logistics demands in Germany. By combining a highly efficient and specialized sales organization with a largely automated, proprietary IT infrastructure, iloxx gained a unique market position.
Since the investment of funds advised by DPE in January 2008, the well-managed company has continued its dynamic development and accelerated sales and profit growth. Between 2008 and 2010, the shipping volume grew from 2.7 million to over 4 million deliveries per annum, the number of employees increased from 70 to 118 and sales increased from 23.5 million Euros in 2008 to 29.4 million Euros. This positive corporate development was achieved against the backdrop of one of the biggest crisis in the logistics services industry with sales declines of up to 40 percent in certain market segments. Due to the firm’s successful development, iloxx has won several awards and was included in the list of “Europe’s Top 500 Job Creating Companies“.
Following the investment, DPE worked with management to improve management and organizational structures and processes for continued profitable growth and to accelerate sales in a very difficult market environment. It thus supported iloxx’s next development step in becoming an established medium-sized company. This included the expansion of management structures with the appointment of a new CFO in 2009, the introduction of improved management tools and the development of customer relationship management and quality control programs. The management team will continue to develop iloxx under the new ownership of DPD.
“All of our expectations with regard to the investment were met. Together with an excellent management, we were able to expand the unique business model quickly, achieve significant sales growth even during the market crisis, and invest in the development of iloxx AG’s employees, systems and processes. We hand over a very well-managed company with strong growth prospects to an ideal partner for iloxx, who will now be able to support the third growth stage of the firm and create more new jobs“, said Marc Thiery, DPE’s founder and Managing Partner.
The investor was advised by Condis GmbH. Legal advisers were Dissman Orth and Freshfields Bruckhaus Dehringer.
About DPE Deutsche Private Equity GmbH
Funds advised by DPE Deutsche Private Equity GmbH provide growth capital to companies in sectors with long-term fundamental growth prospects. DPE is an independent German private equity firm, which was launched by Marc Thiery and Volker Hichert in December 2007 with the backing of Parcom Capital, a pan-European investment subsidiary of the Dutch ING Group.
The fund currently advised by DPE Deutsche Private Equity GmbH (Parcom Deutschland I GmbH & Co. KG) has an initial committed capital of €250m and targets €5-50m equity investments in German, Swiss and Austrian middle-market companies with enterprise values of €10-150m in the following sectors: business services, education, healthcare, industrial technology and alternative energy/environment. As an active partner of management teams, DPE aims to develop companies over longer holding periods (5-10+ years) through organic and external growth.
For more information on DPE please visit www.pdpe.com.
About iloxx AG
iloxx AG (www.iloxx.de), founded in 1999, is an independent shipping service provider. The firm co-operates with more than 20 of the biggest German logistics services providers and numerous small shipping companies. With the help of these co-operations, transport services ranging from parcel shipments to container imports are handled from a single source. iloxx AG’s success is based on the fact that all participating parties benefit from the services: On the one hand, the logistics groups which can tap new target groups with the help of iloxx AG, and on the other hand, the end customers which are provided with transport services which they otherwise could not get at all or not as cheap.
For more information on iloxx AG, please visit www.iloxx.de
