About the deal

Founded in 1922 in Netstal, Switzerland, the industrial company Sauter Bachmann is firmly anchored in the canton of Glarus. Martin Sauter and Max Bachmann are the third and fourth generations of the family to run the company with 120 employees. Sauter Bachmann produces gears, gearboxes and entire drive systems of the highest quality and supplies to customers worldwide in the industrial, aviation & aerospace sectors.

The SIC Group is a company based in Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland and has decades of experience in the industry, – namely in the Mechanical, Electrical and Metal (MEM) sector. The purpose of the investment company is to secure proven Swiss entrepreneurship with its values and qualities in the long term. For this reason, the SIC Group makes sound and sustainable investments in Swiss family-owned companies with the aim of preserving and further developing these companies, most of which have been successfully managed over several generations and are strongly positioned in the market.

The industrial company Sauter, Bachmann AG was able to find a sustainable Swiss succession solution for Martin Sauter, who will retire on January 1, 2023, with the locally anchored SIC Group. In addition to the SIC Group, the management team of Sauter, Bachmann AG has been strengthened by two further Swiss shareholders, with whom the technical know-how will be expanded, and the management more broadly supported. Max Bachmann will remain in the company as co-owner and will become Co-CEO, thus ensuring the continuity and further development of the company together with the SIC Group.

Martin Sauter is happy about the succession solution that has been found: “The two anchor shareholders, the regionally anchored SIC Group on the one hand and Max Bachmann on the other, together with the two engineers Philippe Jaques and Reto Crestas, form ideal conditions for a successful future of Sauter Bachmann.”

For his part, Max Bachmann adds: “I am pleased that we can offer our customers, partners and employees a great deal of continuity with this succession solution. We are very well positioned to optimally meet the upcoming opportunities and challenges for the company.”

What we did

Capitalmind Investec has advised the shareholders and the management team of Sauter, Bachmann AG throughout the entire sale process: the development of a suitable transaction structure, the formulation of a sustainable and value-enhancing equity story, the preparation of all marketing and process documents, the identification and approach of the relevant strategic/financial investors for a successful long-term further development of the company, the preparation and organization of the due diligence in close coordination with the management as well as the negotiation of the commercial deal parameters until closing.