Manager Martin Petzl becomes sole owner of 175-year-old LD DIDACTIC
What's the deal? Aachen-based S-UBGDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → AG, a regional Sparkassen investment firm, is selling its stake in LD DIDACTIC GmbH to the company's long-time managing director, Martin Petzl. He becomes the sole owner of the maker of teaching systems and educational technology. The two had jointly acquired 100% of the company in a 2023 management buyout.
What each side does: LD DIDACTIC, based in Hürth near Cologne, was founded by Ernst Leybold in 1850 and bought by investor AURELIUSDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → in 2009. It develops, produces, and sells teaching systems and educational technology for science and technical instruction. S-UBG has provided equity to mid-sized firms and startups for over 35 years.
Why now? S-UBG says its goal as a minority investor was always to pave the way to full independence for Petzl. "That this step was possible just three years after the MBO shows how much Martin and his team committed," said board member Dr Ansgar Schleicher.
What's the endgame? Since the buyout, Petzl and S-UBG focused on efficiency gains, a stronger international manufacturing network, and expanding the domestic business. The company also broadened its portfolio around measurement technology, electromobility, and digital learning, and acquired LD Didactic Schweiz GmbH to strengthen its dealer structure.
Petzl on his motivation: "As a minority investor, S-UBG kept my back free and gave me the entrepreneurial freedom to develop the business," he said. Taking full ownership was, in his words, "the logical next step."
The signal: LD DIDACTIC operates in a market buoyed by public spending. German programmes including the Startchancen initiative, the SVIK infrastructure fund, and DigitalPakt 2.0 channel several billion euros a year into modernising educational institutions, while the energy transition, electromobility, and artificial intelligence raise demands on technical training. Selling to a single owner-operator, S-UBG frames the move as the best guarantee that a 175-year-old tradition endures.
Read more: majunke.com
Image credit: Jefferson Lab
