In co-operation with the founders and company management, Priveq Investment Fund IV L.P. (“Priveq Investment”) and SEB Venture Capital (“SEB Venture”) have invested, through a new holding company, in the coffee machine producer Crem International Holding AB (“Crem”). The sellers are the private equity funds Accent Equity 2003 KB and Accent Equity 2003 LP (“Ac-cent”), which have been the main owners of the company for more than five years.
With its headquarters in Åmotfors in Värmland, Crem has developed since its foundation in 1983 into a complete supplier of coffee and espresso machines. Coffee Queen of Sweden and Crem Aparatos of Spain merged in 2008 to form the new group. In addition to Accent, Coffee Queen’s founder Georg Möl-ler and Crem’s founding family Olaso also became part owners of the new company.
Crem has 260 employees and sells to roasting houses, machine leasing companies and the so-called HoReCa (Hotel, Restaurant, Catering) market in Europe, Asia and North America. The group has three production sites in Åmotfors (Sweden), Gandia (Spain) and Shanghai (China). Crem offers a complete range of professional coffee machines and accessories on all markets. Brewing machines and coffee ma-chines are sold under the brand name Coffee Queen and espresso machines under the brand name Expo-bar.
“In combination with a first-class production facility in Shanghai, Crem’s broad product offering means that the company is well equipped for continued growth in new and existing markets. More and more people around the world are drinking coffee and we will carry through our efforts to make Crem a mar-ket-leading supplier of high-quality coffee and espresso machines together with the original founders,” say Karl-Johan Willén, Partner and Investment Manager at Priveq Advisory AB, and Babak Etemad, Senior Investment Manager at SEB Venture Capital, in a joint statement.
“For me personally, this will be a natural and very appropriate new ownership solution for Crem,” says Georg Möller. “During Accent’s main ownership, we have grown considerably, successfully integrated our two companies and started on our journey towards becoming a global player in the professional coffee machine market. While thanking Accent for the past, I am also looking forward to taking the next step with our new main owners.”
“We look forward to continuing as owners of Crem,” says Rafael Olaso Jr. “The merger with Coffee Queen was vital and decisive for our possibility of creating long-term success for Crem. The international journey we have started has now been secured and we foresee considerable growth potential – not the least in Asia.”
“In SEB and Priveq we now have capital-rich main owners with combined experience as owners of more than 200 growth companies, which is a real strength as we are now entering a further phase of strong growth,” says Sebastian Lindström, CEO of Crem.
“It really feels satisfying after more than five years to hand over a company that has grown considerably in terms of both sales and profitability and has a much more stable market position,” says Jan Ohlsson, Chairman of Accent Equity Partners, advisor to the Accent private equity funds.
As part of the changes, Ulf Mattsson takes up the position of Chairman of the board of directors. Ulf Mattsson has a broadly-based industrial background, including as CEO of Domco Tarkett Inc, Mölnlycke Health Care AB, Capio AB and Gambro AB.
For further information, please contact:
Magnus Hardmeier, Priveq Advisory,
+46 70 888 25 44
Magnus Ramström, SEB Venture Capital,
+46 703 688 41
Sebastian Lindström, Crem,
+46 703 089 451
Georg Möller, Crem,
+46 70 590 06 75
Rafael Olaso Jr, Crem,
+34 96 287 88 75
Jan Ohlsson, Accent Equity Partners,
+46 70 515 69 15