Herter & Co. – Teneo Capital Advisory – advised Aqua Group, a portfolio company of Rantum Capital, on add-on acquisitions and re-financing
Herter & Co. has successfully advised Aqua Group (“Aqua”) on a new financing arrangement, which replaces its existing bank debt, supports recent add-on acquisitions in Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia and provides additional capacity to continue Aqua’s successful buy-and-build strategy.
Aqua is a leading full-service provider of water and fire damage restoration, including leakage detection, remediation, drying and damage restoration, with a strong regional focus on central and southern Germany. Handling the entire value chain of the damage management process, from diagnosis to restoration and billing, the company forms an exclusive link between insurance companies, property managers, affected parties and other stakeholders.
Herter & Co. coordinated a high-paced, competitive process and structured an overall financing package of more than €75m which was ultimately underwritten by Crescent Capital, the international private debt fund manager. The financing package includes a unitranche facility as well as a committed add-on acquisition facility to support the group’s further organic and inorganic growth.
Hartwig Finger, Managing Director at Aqua, comments: “The acquisition of additional owner-managed companies in Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia is the next strategically important step for our group. We are very pleased with the support provided by Herter & Co. throughout all aspects of the re-financing process. Thanks to their expertise and high value-adding services, we were ultimately able to find a strong and suitable financing partner.”
“The new financing arrangement marks a major milestone for Aqua. Herter & Co. has successfully led a process to secure an attractive financing package, providing Aqua with the financial flexibility to further strengthen its market position on its path to becoming a nationwide player,” says Markus Wenz, Managing Director at Rantum Capital.
Herter & Co. acted as Sole Debt Advisor to Rantum Capital on this transaction. Herter & Co. is part of Teneo, the global CEO advisory firm.
Aqua Group GmbH, with headquarters in Holzkirchen (Bavaria), is a leading supraregional provider of water and fire damage restoration services, with over 35 branches and more than 550 employees. The group was founded in 2021 through the acquisition of a nucleus company to implement a buy-and-build strategy, aiming to consolidate independent service providers with an entrepreneurial corporate culture. The group has a highly diversified and renowned customer base in the B2B segment and handles over 30,000 projects annually.
Rantum Capital is a leading private equity investor for smaller, mid-market transactions, active in the DACH region. Funds advised by Rantum Capital manage over €1bn in capital commitments. Rantum Capital was founded in 2013 by Dr. Dirk Notheis, Marc Pahlow and a group of industrial partners as a bank-independent asset manager focused on German-speaking “Mittelstand” (mid-market) companies.
