IK Partners enters exclusive negotiations to sell LINXIS Group to Hillenbrand

IK Partners (“IK”) is pleased to announce that an affiliate of the IK VIII Fund (“IK VIII”) has entered into a put option agreement to sell its stake in LINXIS Group (“LINXIS” or “the Group”) to Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI) (“Hillenbrand”).

Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Nantes, France, LINXIS is a leading global supplier of industrial processing equipment and automation solutions for the food, pharma and cosmetic industries.

The Group consists of six market-leading brands – VMI, Diosna, Shaffer, Shick Esteve, Unifiller and Bakon – with more than 1,100 employees collectively. Cutting edge in-house engineering and R&D capabilities are both key drivers of outperformance versus peers.

Operating various design and assembly facilities in Europe and North America, it serves thousands of customers across 100 countries, specialising in the design, installation and maintenance of mission-critical equipment. LINXIS is organised around three complementary business units: Mixing Technology, Ingredient Automation and Portion Process. Over the years, the Group has cemented its market-leading positions in both Europe and North America, across all three of these units.

IK acquired LINXIS from Equistone in October 2017 and has transformed the Group substantially through add-on acquisitions; Unifiller in 2018 and Laramore, Bakon and Shaffer in 2021. This, coupled with strategically developing the product offering and its cross-selling capabilities and the introduction of an operational excellence programme, has allowed for significant growth and global expansion.

Tim Cook, CEO of LINXIS Group, commented: “We are delighted to have enjoyed a successful partnership with IK, which has seen LINXIS grow significantly since 2017. The additional financial firepower and market expertise brought by the IK team has allowed us to pursue a number of inorganic growth opportunities and expand the business on a global scale. We look forward to continuing our growth trajectory in partnership with Hillenbrand.”

Rémi Buttiaux, Managing Partner at IK and Advisor to the IK VIII Fund, added: “It has been a pleasure working with the team at LINXIS for the past five years. Through a selective acquisition strategy and the development of several purchasing and aftersales initiatives, we were able to support the excellent management team led by Tim Cook (CEO) and Didier Soumet (Chairman) and drive significant growth for the business. We wish them well for the future.”

Kim Ryan, President and CEO of Hillenbrand, said: “LINXIS will continue to build upon our profitable growth strategy by further strengthening and accelerating our position in the attractive food end market and enhancing the technical capabilities of our products and service offerings. By leveraging the combined capabilities of our Coperion brand and the LINXIS brands, we will be able to offer more comprehensive processing solutions, creating significant value for our customers.”

For further questions, please contact:

IK Partners
Vidya Verlkumar
Phone: +44 (0) 7787 558 193
vidya.verlkumar@ikpartners.com