Altor Fund III to divest micro acoustic supplier Sonion A/S to international life-science investor Novo A/S
Copenhagen, July 15, 2014: Sonion, a global leader in micro acoustic technologies for hearing instruments, in-ear earphones and specialty headsets, today announced that Novo A/S (“Novo”), the holding company in Novo Group, has entered into a definitive purchase agreement with Altor Fund III (“Altor”) for all the shares in Sonion. The acquisition enables Sonion to further focus on maturing new technologies, which will help customers, develop even better hearing devices.
Since the acquisition of Sonion by Altor in 2009, Sonion has made significant investments in R&D – doubling the R&D headcount and initiating several long term research initiatives aimed at maturing new technologies to help hearing instrument manufacturers solve some of the key challenges in hearing enhancement and hearing instrument comfort.
“During Altor Fund III’s five year ownership period, Sonion has succeeded in positioning itself as the innovation leader within micro acoustics for hearing instruments" Søren Johansen, Partner at Altor Equity Partners (the investment advisor to the Altor Funds) says. "We are proud of this achievement and are proud to have worked alongside such talented group of people. With Novo on board as the new majority owner Sonion is very well positioned to capitalize on the many exciting growth opportunities that the Company has positioned itself for”.
“We are enthusiastic about working with Novo as a long term owner of Sonion. Novo has a long and successful track-record in managing R&D intensive companies and with their support we will be able to further emphasize our R&D efforts to develop better products for our customers” Jørn Mørkeberg, CEO Sonion says. “The large companies owned by Novo are highly professional, successful and innovative life sciences companies that represent the highest standard in quality, compliance and corporate responsibility, values which are important to both Sonion and our customers”.
Acquiring Sonion, provides Novo a position in the global hearing health industry – an industry which carries a strong Danish heritage, and today has three of the World’s top-6 brands headquartered in Denmark.
“Through Sonion, we look forward to partnering with the World’s hearing instrument manufacturers to continue the development of improved hearing instruments for hearing impaired people around the world” Eivind Kolding, CEO Novo A/S says. Sonion is a leader within its industry, and has a strong Danish heritage, which we are proud to bring back into long-term Danish ownership. We look forward to establishing a strong relationship with Sonion’s experienced management team and invest together in the future success of Sonion and its customers“.
Closing is expected during second half of 2014 following regulatory clearance.
For inquiries please contact:
Søren Johansen, Partner at Altor Equity Partners (+45 40 77 76 17)
Tor Krusell, Head of Communications at Altor Equity Partners (+46 70 543 8747)
About Sonion: Sonion is a global leader in micro acoustic and micro mechanical technologies and solutions for use in hearing instruments, in-ear earphones and specialty headsets. The company’s product range includes balanced armature receivers, high performance microphones, telecoils and a number of micro mechanical components. Sonion employs 3,200 people and has offices in Switzerland, Denmark, Netherlands, US, Poland, China, Philippines and Vietnam. More information can be found at www.sonion.com
About Altor: Since inception, the family of Altor funds have raised some EUR 5,8 billion in total commitments. The funds have invested in excess of more than EUR 3.1 billion in more than 40 companies. The investments have been made in medium sized Nordic companies with the aim to create value through growth initiatives and operational improvements. The aggregated turnover of the current portfolio companies is more than EUR 20 billion and the companies have more than 30 000 employees. Among current and past investments are OW Bunker, Wrist Group, Ferrosan, Eurocater, Haarslev, Aalborg Industries, Byggmax and Dustin. www.altor.com
About Novo: Novo A/S, the holding company in the Novo Group, is responsible for the management of the assets of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, which are currently valued at more than USD 40 billion. Novo A/S is a private limited liability company fully owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Besides being the major shareholder in Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S, Novo A/S provides seed and venture capital to development stage companies and takes significant ownership positions in well-established companies, within life science and biotechnology, as well as manages a broad portfolio of financial assets. For further information visit www.novo.dk