STARK Group announces CVC Capital Partners Fund VII as its new investor following approval from the EU competition authorities

The acquisition of STARK Group by CVC Capital Partners Fund VII was subject to customary antitrust approval. The European Commission has, on 30 April 2021, approved the acquisition allowing CVC to take a 100% ownership stake in STARK Group. The company has been owned by Lone Star Funds since 2018.

STARK Group has grown rapidly in recent years through successful acquisitions and organic growth with a strategic focus on being a trusted partner bringing scale benefits to professional craftsmen.

Today, STARK Group is a leading B2B distributor of heavy building materials for the construction industry in the Nordics and Germany, with a focus on serving professional craftsmen. The business partners with 10,000 suppliers to serve c. 235,000 customers from more than 420 locations in Denmark (incl. Greenland), Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Germany. STARK Group generated pro forma net sales of EUR 4,5 billion and pro forma adjusted EBITDA of EUR 259 million in the financial year ended 31 July 2020.

“We are excited to partner with CVC to continue the journey we started together with Lone Star. We have enjoyed this collaboration, which has been instrumental in supporting us to achieve strong growth in recent years,” says Søren P. Olesen, CEO of STARK Group and continues:

“We continue to see plenty of opportunities for further development and expansion both in respect of further organic growth and through accretive bolt-on acquisitions in the attractive markets in which we operate. We have already taken the first step by signing an agreement to acquire a leading German roofing and facade building material distributor, Melle Gallhöfer. We know CVC very well from the past and look forward to benefitting from their industry expertise, strategic insights and appetite to play an active role in STARK Group. I could not imagine a better owner to support us going forward.”

Christoffer Sjøqvist, Senior Managing Director at CVC, adds: “We have followed STARK Group closely for many years and have been impressed with the quality of the business and its people. We are delighted to be supporting the company in the future and look forward to working closely with Søren P. Olesen and his team to continue to grow STARK Group.”