Wolf Theiss advises Ambienta on the sale of SF-Filter Group

Vienna, 10 October 2022 – Wolf Theiss advises Ambienta SGR SpA, one of Europe’s largest asset managers entirely focused on environmental sustainability, on the sale of its portfolio company SF-Filter Group to funds advised by Equistone Partners Europe.

Wolf Theiss advised the seller on all Austrian and Polish law aspects of the transaction. The transaction was completed on 29 September 2022.

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, Poland and France, 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.

Ambienta is a European environmental sustainability investor across private and public markets. Operating out of Milan, London, Paris and Munich, Ambienta manages over €3.0 billion in assets with a focus on investing in private and public companies driven by environmental megatrends and whose products or services improve resource efficiency or pollution control. In private equity, Ambienta has completed 57 investments to date. In public equity markets, Ambienta has pioneered one of the world’s largest absolute return fund entirely focused on environmental sustainability and manages a full suite of sustainable products ranging from low-risk multiasset fund to equity long only.

The Wolf Theiss was led by Sarah Wared (Partner, Corporate/M&A, Austria) and Maciej Olszewski (Counsel, Corporate/M&A, Poland). Other team members included, among others, Jana Landhäußer and Nikolaus Wollner (both Associates, Corporate/M&A, Austria), Dominika Getka and Zuzanna Nowak-Wrobel (both Associates, Corporate/M&A Poland), Katja Rehberger, Stefan Horn, Agnieszka Nowak-Blaszczak and Dorothea Arlt.