MidEuropa to Increase Its Stake to 100% in Walmark
MidEuropa, the largest private equity firm focused on Central Europe and Turkey, announced today that it has signed an agreement to increase its stake in Walmark a.s. (“Walmark” or the “Company”) to 100%, buying out the founding Walach family. The transaction is subject to anti-trust clearance.
Walmark is a major Consumer Healthcare player in Central and Eastern Europe with a leading position in dietary supplements in the region. MidEuropa originally acquired a 50% stake in the Company in December 2012.
Michelle Capiod, Partner at MidEuropa commented:
“We would like to thank the Walach family for our excellent partnership and wish them great success in their future endeavours. We have jointly transformed Walmark from the leading dietary supplements business in Central and Eastern Europe into a focused consumer healthcare platform with an exciting pipeline of new products. We are delighted to continue our active support of management in their execution of this successful strategy.”
Adam Walach, on behalf of the founders, stated:
“As passionate entrepreneurs, we have always enjoyed new challenges and opportunities. After 25 years of building Walmark, we have decided to pursue other interests and new investment opportunities, capitalising on our experience. We also want to actively engage in socially responsible and philanthropic projects.”
Jorge Manuel, Walmark’s CEO, added:
“This evolution in Walmark’s ownership will not alter our strategy and priorities. I and the whole Walmark team remain highly motivated to materialise the value creation opportunities ahead of us through our commitment to consumer insight led innovation and brand equity building in partnership with pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across Central and Eastern Europe.”
The transaction was executed by Robert Chmelar, Viktoria Habanova and Tomas Vrba from MidEuropa.
White & Case supported MidEuropa in the transaction as legal counsel, Allen & Overy acted as the founders’ legal advisors and CORPIN acted as the founders’ financial advisors.