Swissbit Acquired by Ardian

The Swissbit management team and Ardian, a private investment house, signed an agreement to acquire Swissbit Holding AG based in Bronschhofen, Switzerland.

The company is a manufacturer of storage and embedded IoT solutions with its own production facilities in Germany.

Swissbit factory in Berlin, Germany

In this transaction, Ardian will acquire a majority stake in Swissbit. Swissbit’s existing management team led by Silvio Muschter, Thomas Luft, Vincenzo Esposito and Matthias Poppel will reinvest in the company as part of the transaction and will hold a substantial stake in the company, thereby ensuring continuity in the management of the business. With the help of Ardian, the growth trend will continue to accelerate.

The parties have agreed not to disclose financial details of the transaction, which is subject to approval by the antitrust authorities.

Swissbit is the only independent European provider of NAND flash-based storage and embedded IoT solutions for demanding niche applications in a range of end markets. It manufactures storage media such as SD and microSD cards, SSD HDDs, and USB memory modules for mission-critical applications.

The products are manufactured exclusively at Swissbit’s production facility in Berlin, which commenced operations in October 2019.

Such solutions are used in industrial automation applications and network communication technology, as well as in the security sector and in medical technology. The embedded IoT storage solutions are relevant especially in the fiscal and security segments.

The manufacturer was created through a management buyout from the Siemens Memory division in 2001. With its strength and extensive R&D capacities, it is positioned to benefit from the evolving IoT and edge computing market trends in a range of applications.  

The company currently has more than 700 customers, including numerous industrial, medical and technology companies. Together with Ardian as a global partner, it intends to continue to accelerate the internationalization of the company in North America and Asia. In addition, management aims to increase the growth potential in the embedded IoT segment, thanks to the variety of new, growing applications for firm’s specialized storage solutions.

Dirk Wittneben, MD and head, Ardian Expansion in Germany, said: “The main factors for our investment in the company were Swissbit’s convincing and promising business model combined with an excellent management team with many years of industry experience and strong technological expertise. We look forward to working in partnership with the management and supporting the company as it continues down its path of growth towards a successful future.”

Silvio Muschter, CEO, Swissbit, added: “The digitization and networking of devices in the Internet of Things drives the demand for secure, high-quality storage products from our memory division and the security solutions from our embedded IoT division. Above all, data is the most valuable asset. At Swissbit, we see it as our central task to reliably store and protect this data. For this reason, we have systematically created a new, state-of-the-art electronics production facility in Berlin, set up the embedded IoT business unit and successfully developed innovative hardware-based security products in recent years. With Ardian, we have found a financially strong and globally connected partner for our further planned growth in new markets.”

Seller

• Swissbit: Roger Knobel, Daniele Tedesco, Silvio Muschter, Vincenzo Esposito, Thomas Luft, Matthias Poppel
• Financial: Deloitte (C. Tattersall, M. Horwat)
• Legal: Bär & Karrer (C. Neeracher, R. Annasohn)
• Tax: Deloitte (F. Poltera, R. Hintermann)
• M&A and Debt Advisory: GCA Altium (A. Grünwald, R. Sauser, G. Baldwin, T. Weber, M. Schlup, D. Schreiber)

Buyer

• Ardian: Dirk Wittneben, Marc Abadir, Yannic Metzger, Nicolas Münzer, Marlon Sandvoss
• Commercial: McKinsey & company (T. Eichner, H. Bauer, P. Ernst)
• Financial: Deloitte (E. Sachsalber, N. Nobereit)
• Legal: Latham & Watkins (B. Hesse, S. Pauls) / Niederer Kraft Frey (T. Spillmann, P. Peyer)
• Tax: Taxess (G. Thomas, R. Schäfer) / Loyens & Loeff (B. Baumgartner, F. Sutter)
• M&A and Debt Advisory: Lincoln International (Ø. Bjordal, C. Weis)

About Ardian
The company is a private investment house with assets of $96 billion managed or advised in Europe, the Americas and Asia. It is majority-owned by its employees. It keeps entrepreneurship at its heart and focuses on delivering investment performance to its global investor base. Through its commitment to shared outcomes for all stakeholders, its activities fuel individual, corporate and economic growth around the world. Holding close its core values of loyalty and entrepreneurship, it maintains a global network, with more than 680 employees working from 15 offices across Europe (Frankfurt, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich), the Americas (New York, San Francisco and Santiago) and Asia (Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul). It manages funds on behalf of more than 1,000 clients through 5 pillars of investment expertise: fund of funds, direct funds, infrastructure, real estate and private debt.