Clairfield acted as financial advisor to FirmenABC in its sale to Investnet AG

“The dedicated involvement from Clairfield Austria throughout the partner selection process resulted in an excellent outcome,” said Manfred Gansch, managing director of FirmenABC. “We were completely confident in the tactical guidance from Berend and the strong financial skills from Kai to reach the optimal outcome for all stakeholders,” said Klaus Rebernig, managing director of FirmenABC.

FirmenABC Marketing GmbH creates multichannel marketing campaigns for more than 13,000 companies in all sectors. The campaigns include internet ads and video placement on FirmenABC’s own popular websites with more than one million unique visitors per month, as well as radio and TV ads. FirmenABC also provide its clients with innovative website creation and SEO services. The company, based near Salzburg, was founded in 2005 by Klaus Rebernig and Manfred Gansch and has 90 employees including advertising and marketing professionals, editors, copywriters, graphic designers, models, and announcers.

Investnet AG is a private equity firm specializing in succession, optimization, and management buy in/out investments in small and medium-sized enterprises located in Switzerland, Austria, and Germany. Investnet AG is based in Herisau, Switzerland with additional offices in Zurich, Düsseldorf, and Vienna. Investnet AG operates as a subsidiary of Raiffeisen Schweiz Genossenschaft, one of the three largest banks in Switzerland.

The founders of FirmenABC decided that the timing was right for a partial exit given the strong performance of the Company and the excellent external M&A market environment particularly in the TMT sector. As the company grew in size, the founders were also seeking increased expertise for the management of the business. The company was a highly attractive target due to its long-term client contracts, double-digit growth, and strong profitability in a hot sector.

Clairfield International was engaged to undertake a structured sale process in which both strategic and financial investors were approached. Thanks to Clairfield’s presence throughout Europe, a large number of potential buyers were identified. After the first round of LOIs, the process was modified to select the best suitable strategic partner with the highest value add to the Company.
During a second stage, selected bidders were re-invited to elaborate on and increase their offers. This second round of management presentations proved indispensable, as the client achieved a much better understanding of the bidders, the managerial and financial capabilities behind the offers, their strategies and their value-add.
Investnet was ultimately selected as the best bidder because its lead investor, Hans-Peter Rohner, former president of the board and CEO of Publigroupe, has 14 years of industry experience in Switzerland. Investnet managers Dieter Tschemernjak and Andreas Boue made a strong case for their ability to support the growth of the company with further organic and non-organic development in the DACH region.