IMAP advises Bamberger Kaliko on the acquisition by an investor team of Kufner Group and VMS

Kufner Holding GmbH ("Kufner Group") and the investment company VMS-REB 3 Beteiligungen GmbH ("VMS") acquire the traditional textile finisher Bamberger Kaliko Textile Finishing GmbH ("Bamberger Kaliko") by means of an insolvency plan.

Bamberger Kaliko was founded in 1863 as a dyeing, bleaching and finishing plant and is one of the most important manufacturers of finishing, coating and dyeing of bookcloth materials, roller blind materials, technical fabrics and textile-based abrasive pads. The Bamberg site currently employs around 130 people.

The Kufner Group is a leading company in the field of interlinings and technical textiles, especially for the automotive industry. VMS, based in Vienna, is an investment company focused on investments in turnarounds, complex carve-outs and other special situations. Bamberger Kaliko can thus benefit both from operational synergies and from the restructuring competence of the investor team.

"The location in Bamberg with its four product segments is not only to be maintained, we are also planning extensive investments and further operational measures. The goal is to regain a leading market position in the existing business areas," commented Ulrich Sogl, CEO of the Kufner Group, on the acquisition.

Bamberger Kaliko had filed for insolvency by way of self-administration on 12.06.2018. The self-administration is supported by the consulting company BDO Restructuring GmbH under the management of attorney Roman-Knut Seger. Dr. Jan Markus Plathner of the law firm Brinkmann & Partner acts as trustee during the insolvency proceedings. The Investor Agreement was signed by the parties on 14 December 2018. The insolvency plan is expected to become legally effective in February 2019, in the course of which the transaction will be executed.

The IMAP team around Henning Graw (Partner) and Alexander Grund (Analyst) exclusively advised Bamberger Kaliko in the search for a suitable partner and supported the company in structuring, negotiating and concluding the investor process.