Houlihan Lokey Advises BWK

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that BWK GmbH Unternehmensbeteiligungsgesellschaft (BWK) has successfully sold its minority stake in R-Biopharm AG, one of the leading biotechnology companies in Germany. The transaction closed on 15 June 2022. The financial terms of the deal are undisclosed.

The family office of the Dreher founding family and R-Biopharm have acquired all shares of the minority shareholders, including BWK, so that R-Biopharm is now fully in family hands.

BWK, headquartered in Stuttgart, is one of Germany’s oldest private equity companies and pursues a long-term investment approach. The company was founded in 1990 and focuses on medium-sized companies. BWK has around €300 million in investment funds at its disposal and currently has around €200 million invested in 20 companies.

R-Biopharm, headquartered in Darmstadt, is one of the leading biotechnology companies in Germany. As an internationally recognised leader, R-Biopharm stands for the development of excellent technologies, products, and solutions in the fields of clinical diagnostics, nutrition care, and food and feed analysis. R-Biopharm is the world market leader in test systems for allergen analysis. It combines development, production, and sales under one roof and is successfully represented in more than 120 countries worldwide—through 28 subsidiaries and 120 distributors. Founded in 1988, the family-owned company employs a total of around 1,300 people worldwide (690 at its headquarters in Darmstadt) and has received the “Sustainability Award” several times for sustainable and profitable growth.

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial sellside advisor to BWK and assisted the deal team and minority shareholders throughout the entire transaction process, including the preparation of marketing and valuation materials, due diligence and overall process coordination, as well as transaction negotiations.