Pava Partners advised Cathay Capital on the sale of the company shares in E. WINKEMANN GmbH (“E. WINKEMANN”) to Associated Spring. E. WINKEMANN is a leading European manufacturer of precision-stamped components, specializing in the automotive sector. The company is a trusted development partner and established series supplier for leading OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers, backed by over 80 years of experience in the automotive industry.

Associated Spring, a portfolio company of One Equity Partners, is a leading global manufacturer of highly-engineered springs and precision metal components, offering solutions under the brand names Associated Spring® and Hänggi™, with locations in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Switzerland, and Singapore.

By consistently implementing its strategic goals, E. WINKEMANN has successfully transformed its business model from products for the combustion engine powertrain to products for the electric powertrain. The company now stands out for its profitability, which significantly exceeds the industry average.

Associated Spring and E. WINKEMANN are complementary companies. This will result in substantial growth opportunities for both organizations.

It is planned that E. WINKEMANN will take a leading role in Europe and Asia in the future Associated Spring organization.

The current management team, led by Markus Kloke, will remain with the company, thus bringing stability and know-how to the new organization.

Associated Spring and E. WINKEMANN both have their roots in family businesses. Associated Spring was founded in Bristol, Connecticut (USA) in 1857 and, like E. WINKEMANN, has successfully become a strong, reliable and innovative partner for its customers over many decades.

The transaction is still subject to the approval of the relevant authorities.

“With Associated Spring, we can continue our company’s success story in the long term; we will consistently address the multitude of synergy potentials,” says Markus Kloke, CEO of E. WINKEMANN. “We would like to sincerely thank the Pava Partners team for their excellent work. We have always received professional and knowledgeable advice from the Pava team throughout all phases of the process.”

About Cathay Capital

Cathay Capital is a private equity and venture capital firm that supports companies in Europe, North America, and Asia.

Cathay Capital helps companies at all stages of development, from start-ups to mid-sized companies, to seize growth opportunities, international expansion, and sustainable transformation. Thanks to its international reach and local expertise, its platform connects people – investors, entrepreneurs, management teams, and leading companies – to share knowledge and tools to evolve and transform businesses.

Founded in 2007 with a strong entrepreneurial heritage, Cathay Capital now manages more than 5 billion euros in assets and has made more than 280 investments in sectors such as healthcare, technology, and consumer goods from its offices in Paris, New York, San Francisco, Munich, Berlin, Madrid, Shanghai, Beijing, and Singapore.

For more information, visit www.cathaycapital.com. 

About E. WINKEMANN

E. WINKEMANN has been successfully operating in the market for more than 80 years. The company was founded in 1938. All company divisions are located at the headquarters in Plettenberg, with a production area of more than 21,000 square meters.

With its subsidiary, E. WINKEMANN Automotive (Kunshan) Co., Ltd., Shanghai, which was established in 2019, they are a local contact for its customers in the world’s largest automotive market in China.

For more information, visit www.winkemann.de.

About Associated Spring

Since 1857, Associated Spring has been a global leader in the highly-engineered spring and precision metal component manufacturing arena. The company has engineering, design and manufacturing facilities around the world, offering solutions under the brand names Associated Spring® and Hänggi™.

Associated Spring is proud to offer its customers one stop full-service precision-engineered, customer specific solutions. Utilizing the company’s mechanical springs, wire forms, washers, reed and flapper valves, precision stampings and assemblies, its products are built to meet or exceed its customers’ requirements quickly and efficiently.

Applications for the company’s precise solutions range from Transportation, Aerospace and Defense-related products, Construction, Energy, Telecommunications, Industrial and Consumer Products. As a leading engineering provider, Associated Spring also provides medical device and Compressor Components. Its plants are certified to AS9100, ISO9001 or TS16949 and ISO14001 depending on the markets serviced.

Associated Spring is committed to operational excellence based on leveraging state of the art product and process technologies and utilizing Lean Manufacturing principles. The company’s experienced and dedicated people strive to exceed its customers’ expectations and objectives.

The company is a global partner for custom springs and stampings. With its engineering capability and manufacturing expertise, it can solve complex (product, process) design challenges and help to achieve increased performance and optimal lifecycle costs.

More information here: www.asbg.com.

About One Equity Partners

One Equity Partners (“OEP”) is a middle market private equity firm focused on the industrial, healthcare, and technology sectors in North America and Europe. The firm seeks to build market-leading companies by identifying and executing transformative business combinations.

OEP is a trusted partner with a differentiated investment process, a broad and senior team, and an established track record generating long-term value for its partners. Since 2001, the firm has completed more than 400 transactions worldwide.

OEP, founded in 2001, spun out of JP Morgan in 2015. The firm has offices in New York, Chicago, Frankfurt and Amsterdam.

For more information, please visit www.oneequity.com.