Lifco Group, the Swedish based industrial and dental trading group owned by Carl Bennet AB, has signed a share purchase agreement to acquire European Dental Partners ("EDP") from Silverfleet Capital. Following the acquisition, Lifco will become one of Europe's leading distributors of consumables, equipment and technical services to dental offices and dental laboratories with market presence in 15 European countries. Lifco Dental Group has for many years been the market leading distributor in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In January 2011, Lifco entered the German market when acquiring the majority of the shares in NetDental GmbH, an internet based distributor of consumables to dentists and dental laboratories. With the addition of EDP, Lifco will expand its market presence in Germany and establish market positions in Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia. Furthermore, the acquisition of EDP will make Lifco one of Germany's largest import based dental laboratories. After the acquisition, Lifco Dental Group will have a combined turnover of ~3000 million SEK and approx. 1100 employees. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals.
European Dental Partners has an annual turnover of ~120 million Euro, ~630 employees in nine countries and consists of two business areas both within the dental industry - business area dental distribution and business area dental laboratory production.
EDP's largest entity is Muller & Weygandt (M&W) which is one of the leading distributors of dental consumables in Germany. M&W also operates in Austria, Switzerland and Hungary. In addition, EDP has important dental distribution businesses in Czech Republic and Slovakia (Dentamed) as well as in Slovenia (Prodent) and Croatia (Dentatus).
EDP's business within dental laboratory production consists of the company InteraDent which is one of Germany's largest import dental laboratories. InteraDent has its own master laboratory in Manila, Philippines in addition to local dental laboratories in Germany. The company has a successful business model of combining cost savings, by partly producing dental laboratory work outside Europe, with offering the highest possible quality and quality control processes to the German dentists.
For further information please contact:
Fredrik Karlsson, CEO Lifco AB
Phone: +46 70 320 35 92
email: fredrik.karlsson@lifco.se (mailto:fredrik.karlsson@lifco.se)
Per Waldemarson, President Lifco Dental Group
Phone: +46 70 840 00 63
email: per.waldemarson@lifcodental.se (mailto:per.waldemarson@lifcodental.se)
Background information
Lifco Group overview
Lifco is an industrial group which after the acquisition of EDP will have a total turnover of approx 6100 million SEK and employs about 3000 people. Our activities include subsidiaries in 29 countries with sales in more than 40 countries. The Group is divided into six business areas: Dental Products, Machinery & Tools, Sawmill Equipment, Contract Manufacturing, Interiors for Vehicles and Environmental Technology.
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Source: Lifco Group via Thomson Reuters ONE
