CMS advises owner family on sale of development and manufacturing service provider SERO to Deutsche Beteiligungs AG

Stuttgart – Private equity firm Deutsche Beteiligungs AG (DBAG) is investing in SERO Schröder Elektronik Rohrbach GmbH (SERO), the holding company behind SERO GmbH & Co KG, a development and manufacturing service provider for electronic components. The sellers are company founder Armin Schröder and members of his family. DBAG and the fund it advises, DBAG Fund VII, will acquire both SERO and its business premises from the Schröder family. The current management team will take a stake in the company. The purchase agreement is expected to close in November 2018. The transaction is currently awaiting approval from the competition authorities. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

A CMS team headed by Dr Jochen Lamb provided support for the sale process from the start and was involved in structuring the deal. It also advised the Schröder family on all legal aspects. CMS has been advising the SERO Group and the Schröder family for some years now.

Development and manufacturing service provider SERO operates primarily in the automotive industry. The printed circuit boards assembled by SERO and the electronic components it produces are used not only in brake lights and engine sensors, for example, but also in high-performance microphones, heat meters and other applications in industrial metrology. The company is based in Rohrbach, Rhineland-Palatinate, and has around 250 employees working in development, sales and production. Armin Schröder will leave the management team once the transaction has completed.

Frankfurt-based Deutsche Beteiligungs AG initiates closed-end private equity funds and invests in mid-market companies with development potential. The listed company manages and advises capital totalling around EUR 1.8 billion.

CMS Germany

Dr Jochen Lamb, Lead Partner
Dr Carolin Armbruster, Partner
Martina Meier-Grom, Senior Associate, all Corporate/M&A
Dr Stefan Voß, Partner, Real Estate & Public
Dr Marc Seibold, Partner
Anne Waßmuth, Associate, both Banking & Finance
Dr Martin Mohr, Counsel, Tax
Dr Rolf Hempel, Partner
Martin Cholewa, Senior Associate, both Competition & EU

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