GPV Aquires Swiss CCS Group

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Combined Company to be Headquartered in Denmark

The continuing, new and bigger EMS group will take the name of GPV, and its head office will be in Denmark. CCS’ customers will still be served from CCS’s existing offices and by its employees in Switzerland, Germany, Austria and other countries, and the overall intention is for the two companies to grow even stronger together:

“There is no doubt that size matters. Our procurement power and production capacity will double, and together we will have an even stronger position in the market. We will have the power and capacity to take on a greater volume of jobs from the combined customer base,” notes Bo Lybæk who will stay on as Group CEO of the new organisation whereas Thomas Kaiser will continue to lead CCS and will be responsible for its integration into the new Group.

Strong Commitment to Invest for Growth

At Schouw & Co. in Aarhus, Denmark, they are also pleased that a deal was reached to acquire CCS. An active ownership approach and a strong commitment to invest for growth has become a proven formula for the Schouw & Co.’s portfolio companies and not least for GPV:

“We have steadily invested to grow GPV since acquiring the company on 1 April 2016. In early 2017, GPV set up production facilities in Mexico, and later that year it took over Danish peer BHE. Since then, GPV has invested to expand capacity at all of its factory facilities, and the company is currently expanding the factory space at the facility in Thailand in a project scheduled for completion in 2020. Having economy of scale is absolutely essential for many of our businesses, and that is particularly true of an EMS business such as GPV,” explains Schouw & Co. CEO Jens Bjerg Sørensen.

The acquisition of CCS is expected to be closed before the end of 2018. Thus, the acquisition is expected to have full effect from 2019.

About GPV

GPV was founded in 1961 and is today Denmark’s largest electronics manufacturer. GPV is a customer-driven EMS business (Electronics Manufacturing Services) providing advanced electronic solutions and mechatronics to customers all over the world. Headquartered in Denmark, GPV has production facilities in Denmark (Tarm and Aars), Thailand (Bangkok) and Mexico (Guadalajara). GPV reported revenue of DKK 1.2 billion in 2017 and has about 1,400 employees of which 85% are based in Thailand and Mexico. Since 1 April 2016, GPV has been a portfolio company of the Danish industrial conglomerate Schouw & Co. For more information, click here.

About CCS Group

CCS Group was founded in Switzerland in 1985 under the name of Formatest AG. CCS Group specialises in electronics, cable harness manufacturing and system integration. The company is headquartered in Lachen, Switzerland, and operates production facilities in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Sri Lanka and China. CCS Group reported revenue of DKK 1.4 billion in 2017 and employs about 2,300 employees of which approx. 50% are based in Europe and the rest in Sri Lanka and in China. CCS is currently owned by a private equity fund advised by Swiss Patrimonium. For more information, click here.

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