B&C Holding and Prologis sold Wiener Kühlhaus WKF to DZ Equity

MP Corporate Finance acted as the exclusive financial advisor to the owners of Wiener Kühlhaus WKF GmbH, the leading public cold store in Austria, in the sale of the shares to DZ Private Equity.

As part of B & C Industrieholding and Prologis European Developements B.V’s strategy of focusing on their core segments and finding a committed successor in further achieving a sustainably positive development of Wiener Kühlhaus WKF, MP Corporate Finance has conducted a discreet transaction process providing an optimal succession solution for all transaction-related parties.

DZ Equity Partner GmbH is the investment company of DZ BANK AG, a central financial institution of the cooperative banking group. DZ Equity Partner ranks among the leading financiers of equity capital in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The distinguishing feature of DZ Equity Partner is its long-term investment horizon, and the willingness to also acquire minority stakes in medium-sized family-owned companies. Currently, DZ Equity Partner’s portfolio consists of 63 investments, which have been financed by DZ Equity Partner’s own funds as well as fund assets amounting EUR 450 million.

Prologis European Developments B.V. is a Netherlands-based subsidiary of Prologis, Inc., which engages in European real estate operation and development. Prologis Inc. is the leading global provider of industrial real estate, offering customers more than 55.7 million m2 in markets across the Americas, Europe and Asia. Since merging with AMB Property Corp. on June 3, 2011, Prologis, Inc. now manages combined total assets valued at more than USD 48 billion.

B & C Industrieholding, the management holding and wholly owned subsidiary of B & C Privatstiftung, is one of the largest investment companies in Austria. It focuses on pursuing the foundation’s mission to “foster Austrian entrepreneurship”, its key tasks include securing and promoting the continuity and growth of major Austrian companies by acting as a core shareholder, as well as investing free dividend income in new investments, where B&C aims at becoming a core shareholder. The investments held by the B & C Industrieholding is made up of the three core investments Lenzing, Semperit and Porr, as well as several other smaller investments in the services sector. In 2010, the B & C Industrieholding employed an annual total average of around 13,460 employees in 97 fully consolidated companies spread across three continents and 16 countries, generating sales of around EUR 5.3 billion. Wiener Kühlhaus WKF Ges.m.b.H., which was founded in 1978, is one of the largest cold stores in Austria, with a storage capacity of more than 150.000m³ equivalent to approximately 41.000 pallets. The storage activities of WKF are perfectly rounded off by additional service offers as for example handling, commissioning and transport & distribution management of stored goods. The second business pillar is the collection and pre processing of slaughter by products for the pet food industry.