Houlihan Lokey Advises Argos Wityu

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Argos Wityu has acquired a majority stake in Karl Schmidt GmbH (Bäckerei Schmidt), a regional market-leading bakery chain. The aim is to significantly expand the number of stores over the next five years by opening new locations and making add-on acquisitions. Houlihan Lokey acted as the debt advisor on the acquisition financing.

Bäckerei Schmidt’s history goes back more than 130 years. After four generations as a family business, the group was acquired by Odewald KMU in 2017 as part of a succession plan. With around 720 employees and 73 branches in attractive locations, Bäckerei Schmidt is the market leader in the East Westphalia region. In addition to traditional bakery branches, the company operates store concepts of various sizes—from small cafés to 50+ seater “Brothaus” branches—with all-day gastronomic offerings in a pleasant atmosphere that encourages customers to spend time there. Bäckerei Schmidt attaches great importance to regional raw materials, goods of the highest quality, particularly friendly service, and modern, innovative production processes. The company is constantly working to further reduce its carbon footprint. Argos Wityu places a special emphasis on developing and implementing ESG initiatives at all portfolio companies and will also support and guide Bäckerei Schmidt along this path.

Argos Wityu is an independent European private equity group that supports the growth of midsized businesses and their management teams. With more than €1.8 billion in assets under management, over 30 years of experience, and more than 90 businesses supported, the company operates from offices in Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, Luxembourg, Milan, and Paris. Argos Wityu possesses extensive pan-European expertise in the food and consumer goods sectors and in the implementation of buy-and-build strategies.

Houlihan Lokey provided debt advice on all commercial aspects of the financing transaction and assisted in securing an attractive and flexible financing structure that will support Bäckerei Schmidt’s growth strategy.

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