HgCapital, the European sector-focused private equity investor, has today announced the acquisition of QUNDIS Group (“QUNDIS”), Germany’s foremost provider of submetering devices and systems for consumption-dependent billing of heat and water. HgCapital will acquire the company from financial investor Capcellence and QUNDIS management team, pending approval by the antitrust authorities. The QUNDIS management team will reinvest a substantial portion of their stake as part of the transaction.

QUNDIS was created in 2008 by the merger of QVEDIS (previously part of Siemens) and KUNDO SystemTechnik. Headquartered in Mühlhausen, the company has approximately 220 employees and currently provides submetering systems to a highly fragmented customer base of approximately five million flats and offices across Europe.

The acquisition of QUNDIS represents a continuation of HgCapital’s sector-driven investment strategy, which seeks to partner with market-leading industry champions. QUNDIS has grown strongly in recent years, despite the challenging economic backdrop, as the demand for energy-saving solutions remained strong.

Alongside its market leading position in Germany, QUNDIS has extensive distribution in Italy with further coverage in Slovenia, the Czech Republic, France, Turkey and Russia, and HgCapital plans to support QUNDIS’ management team in expanding across these geographies.

Richard Binnig, Managing Director of QUNDIS said: “This is an exciting time for the company; with its entrepreneurial approach and strong financial background, HgCapital provides a solid foundation for QUNDIS to continue to develop our specialist technological capabilities to the benefit of new and especially our existing customers. We will continue to be a strong partner to our submetering service provider customers. We look forward to working closely with HgCapital to drive forward the continued expansion of the business both domestically and internationally.”

Commenting on the acquisition, Justin von Simson, Head of HgCapital’s Industrials team and its Munich office, stated: “The combination of a strong management team that has successfully developed the QUNDIS business model internationally, alongside its outstanding technological expertise and excellent customer relationships makes QUNDIS a very attractive company to partner with. In applying our specialist knowledge of the industrials sector, we are keen to back innovative companies within high growth markets and feel there is considerable potential for QUNDIS to continue to grow its business across Europe.”

HgCapital was advised in this transaction by Macquarie Capital Germany, Clifford Chance, The Boston Consulting Group and Deloitte.