“Through investment funds, we help develop companies in Central Europe. We established our first contact with the company Kosyka about four years ago, from this point of view it is one of our long-term development acquisition opportunities,” said Ondřej Benáček, Managing Partner of CEIP. And he added that good relations with the current owner of the company, Martin Saitl, played a very important role. He remains in the position of executive in Kosyce.
The remaining ten percent was bought by a co-investor, which is the company Hoffman Investments from Uherské Hradiště. The new owners want to support the Kosyka company in further company growth both in terms of the number of customers and through new acquisitions of other cable harness manufacturers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The CEIP II fund did not specify the specific price it paid for the stake. “By definition, CEIP does not comment on the price, but given the financial parameters, it is hundreds of millions of crowns lower,” said Benáček.
The Jihlava company Kosyka has been operating on the market since 1995 and specializes in the assembly of connectors and the production of cables for consumer electronics, automobiles and other industries. Its target customers are primarily manufacturers of industrial machines, medical devices and automotive suppliers not only in the Czech Republic, but also in Germany and Switzerland. In 2022, the company reported sales of 290 million. Manager Radovan Putna became the new CEO of the company.
For the Central Europe Industry Partners II fund, which focuses on the purchase of shares in small and medium-sized enterprises in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, this is the second acquisition since its creation at the end of last year. The first investment was the purchase of a 68.6 percent stake in AMiT. This company develops and manufactures electronics for trains and trams as well as control systems and electronics for industrial and transport automation and for building automation. Important customers of AMit include, for example, Škoda Transportation, Stadler, ABB and Siemens.
The previous, i.e. the first, fund managed by the investment company Central Europe Industry Partners has been around for about six years. During its existence, it bought shares in, for example, the manufacturer of welded and stainless steel structures ROKA Industry, the provider of measuring and testing technologies ELCOM, the manufacturer of aircraft technologies Jihlavan, the service company BMH that uses robotic technologies, the manufacturer of thermoformed plastic products VYVA PLAST or the processor of wires and sheets KBNK .
By the end of 2022, this first fund had assets under management in the amount of around 1.6 billion crowns.
VIDEO: What awaits us in 2023? Cheaper apartments and the drop of the koruna
