GEISMAR, GERMANY (Nov. 30, 1:35 p.m. ET) – A U.S. investment firm has purchased a stake in a German company that makes board, sheet and textiles out of recycled plastics.
Friedola-Tech GmbH has received 31 million euros ($40.2 million) in funding from Menlo Park, Calif.-based Silver Lake Kraftwerk, a growth capital investment company.
The company says it will use the funding to open a factory in South Carolina. Friedola-Tech in September had announced plans to invest $14.3 million to open its first North American factory, Con-Pearl North America, in Greenville, S.C.
Under the terms of the transaction, WHEB Partners, a European-based resource efficiency private equity firm, will sell its majority stake in Friedola-Tech to Silver Lake Kraftwerk. Once the transaction has closed, Silver Lake Kraftwerk will become the majority owner, alongside existing co-investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), which co-led the transaction.
Jorg Sperling, a partner at WHEB Partners, says that Friedola is a “great success story” which was under-appreciated after facing serious challenges during the economic recession in 2008-09.
“The company is now ready to expand in the United States,” he said.
The deal is currently pending anti-trust approval by the German authorities.
