The Pervan family partnership with global
investment firm KKR aims to further strengthen Välinge’s position
as a leading industrial R&D company
KKR, a leading global investor, has today announced the signing
of three agreements to ultimately acquire a combined 50% stake in
Välinge, a Swedish industrial R&D company founded and owned by
the Pervan family. Through the agreements, KKR will acquire the two
20% stakes of the current minority owners, Kronospan and Swiss
Krono Group, as well as an additional 10% stake from the
founder.
The Pervan family is partnering with KKR to further grow Välinge
into a world leading R&D and IP provider in its respective
business segments, leveraging KKR’s financial resources, its
international network and its longstanding expertise in the global
industrial sector. KKR has an extensive track record of partnering
with entrepreneurs and family-owned companies in Europe to deliver
growth, international expansion, and value creation including
investments in Walgreens Boots Alliance, BMG, WILD, Scout24,
SoftwareONE, and Webhelp.
The partnership with KKR will allow Välinge to invest behind new
technologies in fast growing areas such as LVT flooring, tool-less
furniture assembly, digital micro 3D printing and wood powder
technology. The former minority owners, Kronospan and Swiss Krono
Group, will remain major licensees of Välinge’s technology and have
played an important role in commercialising Välinge’s earlier
technologies related to floor locking.
Välinge draws its roots from the deep Swedish knowledge and
expertise in wood technology and the company and its founder have a
long track record of developing innovative and disruptive
technologies such as laminate flooring, floor locking systems
allowing for easy assembly, and the new powder based flooring,
Nadura and Woodura. A common thread and guiding principle of all
Välinge’s innovations is to develop products that are better
performing and at a lower cost with a core focus on benefit to the
end user. Välinge currently holds around 1,300 patents, and has
expanded its IP portfolio significantly over the past five years,
with over 12,000 applications in the pipeline today. The company is
based in Viken, Sweden, and boasts a state-of-the-art research
facility which employs 100 expert employees and researchers. The
company has invested over SEK 1,000m in R&D over the last five
years.
The company’s excellence in innovation has been recognised
through a number of high-profile awards. Most recently, in
September 2015, Välinge received the ‘Export Hermes’ award from the
Swedish Fund for Export Development, which rewards Swedish
companies that have contributed to Sweden’s economic prosperity
through remarkable export achievements. The award was presented to
Välinge by Her Majesty the Crown Princess of Sweden. In June 2015,
Välinge won the Schweighofer Prize, a prestigious prize that
recognises innovative ideas, technologies, and products in the
European wood and forest sector.
Darko Pervan, Founder of Välinge, commented: “KKR’s excellent
global reputation and its expertise in the technology and
industrial sectors made it the perfect choice as partner for our
business. This partnership will create a foundation for the company
to take the next step in its development, and KKR’s international
network together with our joint financial resources will allow us
to commercialise Välinge’s technologies faster and on a much larger
scale.”
Anders Borg, Head of the Nordic Region at KKR, added: “Over the
past 20 years, Darko Pervan has built a leading technology company
with a strong track record for innovation, and we are delighted to
be partnering with an entrepreneur of his standing. At KKR we have
a long history of successful partnerships with founder-owned
businesses and entrepreneurs, and we look forward to working with
the Pervan family to further develop Välinge into a world leading
technology company.”
Ignace Gorus, board member at Välinge as a representative for
Kronospan, commented: “Kronospan has always been at the forefront
of innovation in flooring and will continue as a major customer and
licensee to Välinge.”
Niclas Håkansson, the Välinge CEO concluded: “We are very
excited about the support from KKR, which will help us accelerate
the development and global roll-out of new technologies and
ultimately benefit our customers and end-users.”
The transaction will be funded primarily from KKR’s European
Fund IV. No financial terms were disclosed.
-Ends-
About KKR
KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages investments
across multiple asset classes including private equity, energy,
infrastructure, real estate, credit and hedge funds. KKR aims to
generate attractive investment returns by following a patient and
disciplined investment approach, employing world‐class people, and
driving growth and value creation at the asset level. KKR invests
its own capital alongside its partners' capital and brings
opportunities to others through its capital markets business.
References to KKR's investments may include the activities of its
sponsored funds. For additional information about KKR & Co.
L.P. (NYSE:KKR), please visit KKR's website at www.kkr.com and on
Twitter @KKR_Co.
About Välinge
Välinge is an R&D and IP company with particular strength in
wood based technologies and the flooring and furniture industries.
Founded in 1993, Välinge pioneered the concept of floating click
floors and today, over 1bn m2 of flooring is sold with click
systems every year, reducing the time and effort needed for floor
installation as well as easing the environmental burden of the
hundreds of millions liters of glue used for installations in the
past. 2015 License income and EBITDA is expected to be EUR 86
million and EUR 46 million respectively.
The present technology base covers fields related to floor
locking, furniture, construction material, surface materials and
treatments, production processes and tools, digital printing and
ink, and thermoplastic core materials.
Välinge’s patent portfolio is one of the most comprehensive
industrial patent portfolios in Europe. It comprises more than
1,300 granted patents and a global license base of over 200
licensees. All R&D activities take place in Viken which is
considered to be one of the world's most advanced R&D center
related to wood flooring and wood-powder technology. Välinge has
about 100 employees.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160208006471/en/
KKRLondonVictor MalletFinsburyPhone: +44(0)20 7251
3801Email: victor.mallet@finsbury.comorSwedenJohan
HähnelComirPhone: +46 70 605 6334Email: johan.hahnel@comir.se
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