December 3, 2014

Acquisition of WindStar Medical AG

In order to optimally leverage market opportunities in the OTC (non-prescription) drug segment, WindStar Medical Group, Wehrheim/Taunus, a leading German producer of health care products for drugstores and other retailers, has gained the investment firm Equita GmbH & Co. Holding KGaA and Equita GmbH & Co. CoVest KGaA (jointly referred to as “Equita”), Bad Homburg, as its new majority shareholder. The purchase agreement was signed on 24 November 2014, with the official transfer of ownership scheduled for 15 December 2014. The company will continue to operate under the current name WindStar Medical Group, with the existing management team and staff.

Change in ownership structure

Equita will function as the majority shareholder in the future. Both WindStar founders, Wilfried Eichhorn and Dr. Thomas Kleine, will retain a significant stake in the company. In addition, they will continue to hold their Supervisory Board appointments and perform their advisory functions. The long-standing shareholders Ralph Ziegelmeier and Lars Knobloch will leave the company.

Continuation of the forward-looking business model

WindStar Group has gained a leading position in the health care market in recent years as a fast-growing provider of non-prescription health products mainly sold in non-pharmacy outlets. The group seeks to benefit from the trend towards self-medication and serves consumers looking for well-priced products in drugstores and other retail stores.

Its key areas of expertise are scientific marketing, product development, quality and approval management (regulatory affairs), market research, customer service, design development and sales. This differentiates the group from its competitors.

“The group’s unique and comprehensive product range, covering all aspects of health care, is what makes it effective,” says Wilfried Eichhorn, who laid the cornerstone for today’s WindStar with the establishment of ProMarCon in 1993. “Other defining characteristics of WindStar are its innovation skills, competence in the new product development, and the ability to redesign products originally offered in the prescription drug market (i.e. pharmacies) to make them freely available in the mass-market at reasonable prices.”

“We do not believe that any other supplier in Germany is similarly well-positioned at present as a provider of affordable and effective non-prescription health care products for consumers,” says Dr. Hansjörg Schnabel, a managing director with Equita.

Expanding the product range beyond Germany’s borders

WindStar develops private label products in close cooperation with customers in the retail, discount and drugstore segments, advises its customers on their product ranges and, on request, delivers its full range of services. With this full-service approach, the company is unique in Germany. In addition, the group offers its own brands such as SOS, Well&Slim and Green Doc. These brands have also been successfully established in the German market and have substantially contributed to the group’s strong growth.

In recent years, WindStar has undertaken successful efforts to expand its business beyond Germany’s borders. These activities will be intensified over the coming years with the support of Equita.

WindStar Medical is a leading provider of non-prescription health-care products – both private label and branded products (SOS, GreenDoc, Well & Slim) – in the German market. More than 300 different articles from the WindStar Medical Group are on the health-care shelves of retailers in Germany. The group consists of the marketing company Promarcon (marketing and consulting), the service providers Claricon (consumer service and market research), Brand Scout (branding and consulting) and PureArt (packaging design and communication), the online shop Good Vita and the sales units Districon, Dr. Kleine Pharma and Vitalia. WindStar has a growing workforce, now numbering about 100 employees, at its German offices in Wehrheim/Taunus, Bielefeld and Würzburg.

Headquartered in Bad Homburg, Germany, Equita stands for continuity in the long-standing Harald Quandt family tradition of making entrepreneurial investments in medium-sized companies in the German-speaking markets. Investment targets must show solid financial structures, a strong market position with evident growth potential and a management team that is willing and able to achieve that potential. Since 1992 Equita has managed equity commitments with a total of € 830 million and has acquired stakes in 30 companies. Equita presently is investing through Equita Holding and Equita CoVest having a combined committed capital of € 450 million. The current portfolio comprises 9 companies. For more information visit: www.equita.de

Equita contacts:

Dr. Hansjörg Schnabel
Partner | Managing Director
Tel. +49 (6172) 9441 – 229

Jan C. Drewitz
Partner
Tel. +49 (6172) 9441 – 226