A long-term investor
Wendel is a hands-on investor and shareholder that assists sector-leading companies in their long-term development. Wendel's business model combines the entrepreneurial passion born of a long family tradition with a culture of performance and accountability.
Mecatherm
Leader in industrial bakery equipment
With an R&D laboratory and three industrial sites in France, the Mecatherm group - through its subsidiaries Mecatherm and Gouet - designs, assembles and installs automated production lines for bakery products throughout the world. With a large, diversified and international customer base, and a well-known brand in its sector, covering the entire range of bakery products, the Mecatherm group achieved sales of €91 million in 2010 - 75% of which outside France - and has generated a high profitability of 18-20% EBITDA over the last five years.
A family-run business with around 300 employees, Mecatherm was founded in 1964 by René Voegtlin (1932-2005), a heating engineer with a passion for automation and for designing machines. The current Chairman, Bernard Zorn, joined René Voegtlin in 1975. Olivier Sergent, CEO, joined the group when Gouet was acquired in 2006. Natalie Voegtlin-Boehm is the Deputy CEO of the company. Mecatherm has significant growth potential, supported by long-term trends:
- Bread consumption in emerging market countries (Asia, Middle East, Africa) has steadily increased by between 3% and 10% per year, every year for the past ten years.
- Industrial bakery is gaining market share to the detriment of artisan bakers, notably in emerging market countries.
- The Mecatherm group benefits from an increasing penetration rate in its "premium" and "variety" segments.
Press Releases:
30 June 2011: Wendel: exclusivity agreement in view to acquire MECATHERM, the world leader in industrial bakery equipment
11 July 2011: Wendel: signature of a share purchase agreement to acquiring the MECATHERM Group, the world leader in industrial bakery equipment
04 October 2011: WENDEL ACQUIRES THE MECATHERM GROUP VIA ORANJE-NASSAU DÉVELOPPEMENT
