Investor found for one of Germany’s biggest chicken meat processors
Good news for GETI WILBA GmbH & Co. KG: The manufacturer of meat and frozen food products has been sold as part of a transferring restructuring to the equity fund CMP German Opportunity Fund III, which is advised by the Berlin-based investment company CMP Capital Management-Partners, an experienced firm in restructuring. The successful search for investors was conducted by the management consultancy Restrukturierungspartner.
Particularly pleasing: All of the approximately 550 jobs and the three German production sites in Cuxhaven and Bremervörde will be retained. In addition, CMP has acquired the shares in the Austrian holding. Thus, all material assets have been transferred.
The GETI WILBA GmbH & Co. KG, which is one of the largest processors of chicken meat in Germany with a turnover of EUR 85 million (in 2019), filed for insolvency in mid-February of 2020 due to expiring credit lines. Dr. Christoph Morgen (Brinkmann & Partner) was appointed as the provisional insolvency administrator. In recent weeks, the experts of Restrukturierungspartner exclusively managed a nationally and internationally oriented investor process. The team around managing directors Burkhard Jung and Werner Warthorst as well as manager Merlin Smeenk had approached a large number of investors in Germany and abroad and held intensive discussions with various interested parties. The final negotiations were concluded with CMP Capital Management-Partners and the purchase agreement was signed on May 8, 2020. However, the contract is still subject to various enforcement conditions such as approval by the cartel office. Closing is scheduled for the beginning of June 2020.
„We are happy that along with the insolvency administration we have succeeded in winning an investor with a convincing concept despite the difficult market environment and the unexpected corona-related challenges“, explains Merlin Smeenk, who as project manager oversaw the investor process.
„The successful investor solution is very pleasing, especially with regard to the complete preservation of jobs and production sites“, add Burkhard Jung and Werner Warthorst.
About GETI WILBA
The GETI WILBA GmbH & Co. KG, also GETI WILBA Group in the future, specialises in the refinement of meat products, in particular of poultry and game, and in the production of frozen prepared dishes. In the chicken meat segment, GETI WILBA covers the entire value chain, from living animals to the end product for retail and industry. In Germany, the company has been known for their chicken meat, chicken fricassee and game convenience products for years.
Process participants
Insolvency administration: Brinkmann & Partner mit Dr. Christoph Morgen (Partner), Manuel Sack (Partner), Zekira Fuest (Diplom Wirtschaftsjuristin), Sascha Tessmann (Rechtsanwalt), Jan-Philipp Koslowski (Partner)
Legal advisors to the insolvency administration: LUTHER Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH mit Dr. Marcus Backes (Partner), Dr. Michael Bormann (Partner), Dr. Stefan Kobes (Partner), Dr. Volker Schneider (Partner), Dr. Katja Schwenzfeier (Partnerin)
Investment advisor to the buyer: CMP Capital Management-Partners mit Kai H. Brandes (Geschäftsführender Gesellschafter), Andreas Schulig (Partner), Dr. Robert Thamm (General Counsel)
Legal advisors to the buyer side: CMS Hasche Sigle mit Dr. Igor Stenzel (Partner), Niklas Lütcke (Partner), Dr. Heike Blank (Partnerin), Dr. Eva Annett Grigoleit (Partnerin)