DGAP-News: SURTECO SE

SURTECO continues expansion with takeover of the Portuguese Probos Group

- Probos is a leading and highly profitable manufacturer of plastic edgebandings with sales of EUR 66.5 million and an EBITDA margin of around 17 %

- Expansion in strategically important markets in South and Central America

- Exploitation of favourable interest-rate environment to finance the purchase price

Buttenwiesen-Pfaffenhofen, 24 June 2017 - SURTECO SE - one of the world's leading manufacturers of decorative surface materials and producer of technical extrusions made of plastic - strategically continues its corporate expansion with the takeover of the Portuguese Probos Group. This transaction involves the SURTECO subsidiary company Döllken-Kunststoffverarbeitung GmbH in acquiring 100% of the shares in Global Abassi S.L., the Spanish parent company of the Probos Group. The purchase contract scheduled for closure in the coming weeks is neither subject to any condition precedent nor antitrust approval. The sellers are Alantra Private Equity, the PE division of global investment banking and asset-management firm ALANTRA and to a lesser extent the Probos management. The headquarters of the Probos Group are located in Porto, Portugal. The Group has a workforce of around 470 employees and it has specialized primarily in the production of PVC and ABS plastic edgebandings. SURTECO is expanding its regional presence by acquiring assembly sites in Brazil and Portugal, and sales and processing locations in Germany, the USA, Mexico and the United Kingdom. This is particularly true for the strategically important markets in South and Central America where the company has been underrepresented up until now. In future, SURTECO will have increased opportunities to promote its own products in these markets. Probos also enhances the Group's product competence as a leading provider of PVC edgebandings.

"The acquisition of Probos constitutes a further milestone for us. The company is highly profitable with a record of strong growth. Probos has an established market presence in South and Central America and opens up great potential in markets where we have hardly been represented up to now," commented Dr. Herbert Müller, Chairman of the Board of Management of SURTECO SE, on the acquisition.

Following the acquisition of the British Nenplas Group in December 2016, another profitable and thoroughly sound company has been acquired with Probos. In the business year 2016, Probos generated an EBITDA of EUR 11.0 million with sales of EUR 66.5 million. This is equivalent to a margin of EUR 16.6 %. During the course of the last business year, SURTECO generated sales of EUR 639.8 million and EBITDA of EUR 74.3 million (EBITDA margin: 11.6 %).

The purchase price of EUR 99 million will be financed with outside borrowings where the company is benefiting from the current favourable interest-rate environment. After this takeover, SURTECO continues to be fully financed with a very sound balance sheet. After the 1st quarter of 2017, the Group reported an equity ratio of 51.1% and a level of debt (ratio of equity to net financial debt) of 36%.

You will find additional information about SURTECO SE on the Internet at www.ir.surteco.com.

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Profile of SURTECO

SURTECO SE, Buttenwiesen-Pfaffenhofen, is a leading international specialist for surface technologies. The product portfolio includes papers printed with decorative designs, impregnated products, release papers, decorative flat foils and edgebandings based on specialist papers for technical applications and plastics. The extensive product portfolio is completed by skirtings made of plastic, technical extrusions for industry and do-it-yourself ranges and shutter systems.
The Group currently has a workforce of appr. 2,800 and manufactures at 23 sites on four continents, currently generating approximately 27 % of sales in Germany, 44 % in European countries outside Germany and the remainder in America, Asia and Australia. Customers of SURTECO generally come from the wood based materials, flooring and furnishing industry and the interior industry.
The shares of SURTECO SE are listed on the official market (Prime Standard) of the Frankfurt and Munich Stock Exchanges under the ticker symbol SUR and ISIN DE0005176903. They are also traded on the stock markets in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart Hamburg and Hannover.

Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements

This press release contains statements of future forecasts or expectations and other forward-looking statements and involves known and unknown risks and uncertainties. There is therefore no guarantee for the statements and expectations expressed herein. The actual results and developments may differ substantially. The company does not intend to - and assumes no obligation - to update any forward looking statements contained herein or to adapt such information to future results or developments.