IKA Innovative Kunststoffaufbereitung (IKA Wolfen, Bitterfeld-Wolfen / Germany; www.ika-wolfen.de) has announced that the Invest AG private equity fund of the Austria-based Raiffeisen banking group has become the largest shareholder in the company following its acquisition of a nearly 47% stake. Invest AG is taking over the shares from Belgian industrial holding company Floridienne (Waterloo; www.floridienne.be), which had purchased a majority stake in IKA Wolfen in 2002. Floridienne owns shares in companies from the chemical, recycling, life science and gourmet-food sectors, and had successively increased its stake in IKA, acquiring 100% ownership in 2016. According to reports, IKA’s latest results showed sales of EUR 33m with around 70 employees.

Other investors entered the ranks of ownership on 6 October 2020, when Austrian private equity firm Invest Equity bought a 33.77% stake in the German PVC stabiliser producer, and a compatriot consortium around Alexander Hofer, a former manager at Chemson Polymer-Additive (Arnoldstein / Austria; www.chemson.com), finalised a management buy-in for the remaining 19.48%. Hofer will head the management buy-in as CEO, with Timo Seibel as CTO. According to reports, previous IKA Wolfen managers Thomas Hillen and Swetlana Fischer will remain with the company. IKA co-founder and long-standing managing director Reinhard Beck has been tapped to advise the new owners and management.

Invest AG and Invest Equity worked together in 2013 as shareholders in Lenzing Plastics (Lenzing / Austria; www.lenzing.com). Since many companies have registered an increased need for capital due to the coronavirus crisis – in order to more easily take out loans – Invest AG has currently reserved an additional EUR 250m as venture capital.