Founded in 1936 as Societá Anonima Meccanica di Precisione (SAMP), supplies precision machines, spare parts and services to leading wire and cable manufacturers around the globe from locations in Italy, China, Brazil and the United States. Consistent with 85 year history of superior engineering and Italian craftsmanship, the company designs and manufactures the most innovative and high-performance wire and cable machines in the industry. With thousands of machines operating reliably around the globe, SAMP provides life-cycle services and OEM certified spare parts to ensure maximum up-time and lowest TCO for its demanding customers.
HVD is collaborating with SAMP’s management to accelerate the international revitalization of this Italian champion machine builder from its headquarters near Bologna Italy.
With a 20-year track-record, Solifos is a trusted supplier of high performance fiberoptic cabling and systems for demanding applications. Formerly the fiber-optic systems division of Brugg Cables, the firm serves a broad number of demanding applications in sensing and communications across industry sectors including security, defense, energy and telecom.
HVD led the carve-out of Solifos from Brugg Cables in 2018. Changes were rapidly implemented to transform the business from a legacy of steep losses (-15% EBITDA) to a profitable stand-alone business in six months. By streamlining the company’s value proposition to focus on higher margin products in selected growth sectors, HVD and management were able to simultaneously increase sales and reduce cost. With the implementation of SAP, rigorous governance and controlling, and key senior management hires, Solifos has demonstrated sustainable profitability(+10% EBITDA).
Solifos was sucessfully divested to strategic acquirer NBG Fiber Optics in December of 2020 with a MOIC of over 9x achieved in just over two years of HVD stewardship.
"We are pleased to have found a good solution with HVD Partners and the Solifos management team to release the growth potential of this promising part of our portfolio.”
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Felix Deutsch, CFO Brugg Cables AG
“Focusing on the right markets and rightsizing the business were key to Solifos’ turnaround and laying the foundation for profitable growth. HVD Partners contributed materially to our transformation by providing structured analysis and operational management support from experienced leaders.”
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Nils Kupschke, CEO Solifos
“We have achieved a rapid turn-around of the business through good collaboration among all stakeholders, including our advisors. HVD Partners helped us to accelerate the carve out, define a value growth strategy, establish new processes and align the organisation.”
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André Zengafinnen, Shareholder Solifos AG
Born out of outstanding engineering competence, Astera Solution's petrographic rock sample testing equipment is the most technically advanced and efficient in the world. Through deep and on-going cooperation with leading universities and oil & gas companies, the firm has perfected a suite of high performance laboratory test equipment. Astera Solutions started in 1994, when the first rock sample grinding machine was designed and built to improve existing techniques for Statoil, the Norwegian national oil company. A precise and rapid process to grind thin sections without the use of abrasive paste was successfully introduced at that time. An entire product range for superior thin section lab analysis was subsequently developed and launched.
HVD led the carve out of Astera Solutions from Artech Engineering. Changes were rapidly implemented to increase market reach with the establishment of an international indirect sales distributor network. A smaller, 16-sample desktop version of the flagship instrument was introduced to broaden the addressable market. Other sample preparation equipment was added to the product portfolio to deliver single-source supply for petrographic labs. In addition, these were network-enabled to eliminate manual data collection and recording processes. Finally, the flagship grinding equipment has been enhanced with cameras and imaging software to reduce sample admin and uniquely enable enhanced 3D imaging.
“With HVD Partners we had a pragmatic strategic partner to help unlock the value of a non-core product line. Although the markets in this segment have been turbulent and unpredictable, our relationship with HVD and their hands-on support have been unwavering. The collaboration has been outstanding.”
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Jorgen Jarvaag, Managing Director Artech Automation AS
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