Ambienta sells platform company SF-Filter to Equistone

Niederer Kraft Frey advised Ambienta SGR SpA, one of Europe’s largest asset managers entirely focused on environmental sustainability, on the sale of its portfolio company SF-Filter AG, Europe’s leading supplier of mobile and industrial filters, to funds advised by Equistone Partners Europe.

Recognising the importance of the filtration sector in support of sustainability trends, Ambienta acquired a majority stake in SF-Filter in January 2016. With Ambienta’s support, SF-Filter was successfully transformed from an owner-operated into a management-run enterprise with an experienced management team and a modern cross-national matrix organisation. Today SF-Filter, headquartered in Bachenbülach (Switzerland), operates sales and logistics centres in Germany, Austria, France and Poland, plus a number of export markets. The company supplies over 27,000 customers in many European countries with oil, air and fuel filters as well as filters for liquids, hydraulic and pneumatic applications, dust extraction and air conditioners. The product range comprises more than 140,000 filter types, 40,000 of which are always on stock deliverable at all times.

The transaction was completed on 29 September 2022. The parties have agreed to observe confidentiality regarding the financial details of the transaction.

The NKF team was led by Corporate/M&A partners Philip Spoerlé and Andrea Giger, working with senior associate Katalin Siklosi (Corporate/M&A) as well as partners Catherine Grun (Employment) and Adrian Koller (Finance), senior associate Livia Keller (Employment), associates Benedikt Hadorn (Corporate/M&A) and Binderiya Gan-Ayush (Corporate/M&A) as well as junior associates Carlotta Ulmer and Alexander Züger (both Corporate/M&A).

Other advisers of Ambienta included RW Baird (M&A sell-side advice), Dechert LLP and Wolf Theiss (legal), KPMG (financial and tax) and Roland Berger (commercial).