IK Investment Partners to invest in CID Lines

IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is pleased to announce that the IK VII Fund has reached a binding agreement to acquire CID LINES N.V. (“CID Lines” or “the Company”), a leading provider of innovative hygiene solutions, from Gilde Buy Out Partners (“Gilde”). Financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

Established in 1988 and headquartered in Belgium, CID Lines is a leading supplier of innovative hygiene solutions for the agricultural, food, vehicle care and institutional industries. With a network of over 750 distributors and importers, the Company exports its solutions to more than 90 countries. CID Lines offers its customers a complete product range of branded, effective and high quality solutions. Over the past years, CID Lines has continued to realise strong growth across all of its segments, supported by an increasing awareness of food safety and use of hygiene products to guarantee safe food throughout the food chain.

“CID Lines’ high quality product portfolio supported by its unique distribution platform puts the Company in an ideal position to benefit from the accelerating market consolidation. We are truly impressed by the Company’s performance over recent years, and we are looking forward to supporting the management team in executing its growth ambitions,” said Remko Hilhorst, Partner at IK Investment Partners and advisor to the IK VII Fund.

“Together with management, we have supported CID Lines to become one of the leading actors in Europe, with a strong and growing presence on other continents. We now believe CID Lines is ready for a next step in its development with a new supporting shareholder. We are pleased that IK has agreed to continue the journey with management to further develop and strengthen the Company’s market position,” said Nicolas Linkens, Partner at Gilde.

Koen Brutsaert, Founder and CEO of CID Lines, added:
“Under the stewardship of Gilde, CID Lines has realised a track record of average annual revenue growth of over 10% per year over the past five years. We are excited to partner with IK as they understand our business and share our ambitions. This transition in ownership is excellent news for all parties involved, including our employees and customers, as we will be able to continue our strong growth strategy on a stand-alone basis.”

Completion of the transaction is subject to merger clearance and other customary conditions and is expected to take place early 2016.

For enquiries, please contact:

IK Investment Partners
Remko Hilhorst, Partner
Tel: +44 20 7304 4300

Mikaela Hedborg, Communications & ESG Manager
mikaela.hedborg@ikinvest.com
Tel: +44 77 87 573 566

Gilde Buy Out Partners
Koos Teule, Director Investor Relations
teule@gilde.com