Houlihan Lokey Advises Trill Impact

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Trill Impact, a leading private equity firm with a strong focus on sustainability investments, has acquired a majority stake in Kimbrer Computer ApS (Kimbrer Computer), a leading supplier of used and refurbished IT enterprise hardware. The transaction was completed on 20 December 2022.

Based in Aars, Denmark, and founded by Peter Tølbøll Hansen and Morten Nøhr in 1995, Kimbrer Computer is one of Denmark’s leading suppliers of used and refurbished hardware. As a circular IT specialist, the company purchases used enterprise hardware from suppliers, which is then carefully sorted. Following that, Kimbrer Computer securely erases data, tests, refurbishes, cleans, and then stores the refurbished hardware in its warehouse and ultimately sells it to more than 14,000 customers in 80 countries. On average, 96% of the hardware parts bought by Kimbrer Computer are either reused or resold on the global B2B market.

Refurbished IT devices have up to a 90% lower CO2 footprint than new IT devices. The company, therefore, contributes to the circular economy by extending the life of enterprise IT hardware and reducing its CO2 footprint, use of raw materials, e-waste, energy, and water usage compared to the production of new hardware. As such, in 2021, Kimbrer saved 7,000 tonnes of CO2 for its customers, with 400,000 used and refurbished units sold—the equivalent to the energy consumption of more than 450 average Danish households.

Trill Impact is a pioneering impact house with €1.2 billion in assets under management across its investment strategies. With a team of more than 35 experienced professionals based in Sweden, Germany, Luxemburg, and Denmark, Trill Impact aims to become a force for positive change and realise its vision of delivering real returns and lasting impact for the benefit of investors, businesses, and society at large.

Nina Hoffmann von Holten, Investment Director at Trill Impact Advisory, said: “We see great potential in Kimbrer Computer, both when it comes to scaling positive impact and continuing international expansion. Today, 24 out of 27 EU countries fail to meet the European Union’s e-waste recycling targets. Trill Impact would like to change that number and we anticipate that Kimbrer Computer can play an important role in reducing e-waste and CO2 emissions. We believe that circular business models like Kimbrer Computer's will be key in reaching sustainability targets. We also think that the market for circular IT will continue to grow at a high and increasing pace. In our view, Kimbrer Computer has the potential to be a European leader and act as a successful consolidator within the industry, applying the same best practices in sustainability to these new family members.”

Houlihan Lokey acted as buyside adviser to Trill Impact on this transaction, which marks its first investment into a circular IT company as part of its strong, sustainability-focused European portfolio.