MidEuropa to acquire full control of Waberer’s International Nyrt

MidEuropa, the largest private equity firm focused on Central and South Eastern Europe, announced today that it has signed an agreement to increase its stake in the leading CEE road freight transport company Waberer’s International Nyrt. (“Waberer’s” or the “Company”) from 56.8% currently to 97.1%. MidEuropa is acquiring the shares held by the founder and CEO, Gyorgy Waberer and acquiring full control of the Company. The transaction is subject to anti-trust clearance.

Mr. Waberer decided to retire from active participation in Waberer’s after 35 successful years of building the business. As part of his retirement, Mr. Waberer decided to sell his remaining shares in the Company to MidEuropa, his financial investor partner since 2011. In accordance with this, he will resign from all positions he currently holds in the Company.

MidEuropa will continue to build on the Company’s achievements over the last five years of cooperation and partnership with Mr. Waberer, during which MidEuropa enabled and accelerated Waberer’s dynamic growth and internationalization, commencing with a significant equity capital injection in 2011. Since 2010, the Company has grown its truck fleet from some 2,300 vehicles to approximately 3,500 currently, its workforce from less than 4,000 to approximately 6,000, and its revenues by c. 60% to over €520 million. At the same time, Waberer’s has expanded its regional presence by opening sales offices in Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and the UK.

Nikolaus Bethlen, Partner and Head of MidEuropa’s Budapest office said:

“We thank Mr. Waberer for his contribution to building the pre-eminent road freight transportation company in CEE. We are ready to support Waberer’s in its next phase of growth, and are very excited about the prospect of building the Company into a major European brand and further strengthening its leading position in European asset-based road freight transportation and logistics. We are pleased to pursue and achieve these goals together with the current management team.”

Ferenc Lajko, deputy CEO and CEO-designate of Waberer’s added:

“We are delighted to continue our excellent partnership with MidEuropa and are excited to accelerate the internationalization of a Hungarian National Champion and take advantage of the growth opportunities in the European transportation sector.”