Elatec Announces New Growth Equity Investment

Feb 14, 2018

  • DPE to sell majority stake in leading global provider of multi-standard RFID readers to Summit Partners
  • Elatec will seek to accelerate growth through internationalization and expansion into new end markets
  • DPE will remain a minority shareholder

Munich, Germany and London, United Kingdom (February 14, 2018) – DPE Deutsche Private Equity (“DPE”) and its co-investors reached a definitive agreement to sell their majority holding in Elatec, a leading global provider of multi-standard RFID readers, through a majority recapitalization by global growth equity investor Summit Partners. DPE and its co-investors will retain a minority stake in the company. The transaction is subject to investment review by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and is expected to close in the first half of 2018.

DPE and Elatec: Improved market position and strong growth

Elatec is one of the world’s leading suppliers of multi-standard RFID readers. Since DPE’s investment in Elatec in January 2016, the company, headed by CEO and co-owner Stefan Haertel, has nearly doubled its revenues and headcount. “With DPE’s expertise in growth, we have successfully accelerated the development of our core business, strengthened our market leadership in Europe, expanded our U.S. presence, established an Asian footprint in both China and Japan, and diversified the industries served by Elatec‘s market-leading products,” said CEO Stefan Haertel. “DPE’s support has been instrumental in this growth, and we are now excited to welcome Summit Partners to the Elatec team. We look forward to leveraging Summit Partners’ deep expertise in supporting the global expansion of high-growth technology companies.”

Summit Partners and Elatec: A partnership for continued growth

DPE partner Dr. Frank Müller added: “We are delighted by Elatec’s growth during our partnership. The company has achieved its goals faster than planned, and we look forward to participating in the company’s continued development as a minority shareholder. We believe Summit Partners will be an ideal partner for Elatec’s next stage of growth.”

“Elatec’s multi-protocol solutions uniquely address a market need, supporting more than sixty different transmission standards and enabling the use of RFID applications across myriad end-markets,” said Dr. Matthias Allgaier, a Managing Director at Summit Partners who will join the Elatec Board of Directors. “We believe the company is well-positioned for continued, accelerated growth, bringing Elatec’s solutions to new customers, new verticals and new geographies.”