Silver Lake Kraftwerk, a leading global growth capital investment strategy focused on energy and resource innovation, announced its acquisition of a majority stake in German friedola®Tech. The deal is valued more than €30 million. Once the transaction has closed, Silver Lake Kraftwerk will become the majority owner of friedola®Tech, alongside existing Menlo Park-based co-investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), which co-led the transaction and increased its ownership of friedola®Tech. The stakes were sold by WHEB Partners, a European private equity manager that remains an important shareholder. The transaction was executed by two capital stock increases at the level of the German target company and the Jersey holding, including redemption of stock.
This is the first co-investment between Silver Lake Kraftwerk and KPCB. It is designed to provide growth capital to enable further product innovation, development in key market segments and expansion into new geographic regions, including the opening of a world-class manufacturing facility in Greenville, South Carolina.
friedola®Tech is a premier recycled plastics processing company that produces high-quality, environmentally-friendly products and components for the automotive and packaging industries. The company supplies lightweight, recyclable and environmentally-friendly plastic solutions to a variety of industries and boasts an innovative and proprietary product portfolio. friedola®Tech's plastic solutions are a key component in the lightweight efforts of a number of leading car manufacturers.
Silver Lake Kraftwerk is the energy investment strategy of Silver Lake Partners, the global leader in private investments in technology and technology enabled industries, and strategic partner Soros Fund Management, LLC. Silver Lake Kraftwerk is designed to provide growth capital to late-stage innovators in the energy and resource sectors.
WilmerHale's international team representing Silver Lake Kraftwerk in this transaction included Berlin-based Martin Seyfarth, Dr. Matthias Santelmann and Dr. Jan Heithecker; Frankfurt-based Dr. Jan Wendler; London-based Timothy Corbett; Boston-based John Burgess; and Palo Alto-based John Demeter.