IMAP advises on the sale of Spiegel Institut to Private Equity Investor Rhein Invest and Investor & Manager Dr. Andree Kang

The shareholders of Spiegel Institut, a leading consultancy firm in the field of user experience consulting, have sold a majority stake to Rhein Invest, a German-Dutch investment firm, as part of a reorganisation of the shareholder structure. At the same time, Dr. Andree Kang has joined the group as shareholder and CEO. Dr. Kang has over 20 years of management experience and expertise from various top management positions and will strengthen the existing management team around Managing Director Beate Irmer. The former shareholders will continue to be closely associated with the group and remain minority shareholders and support the management team in the role of an advisory board as well as consultants. The Spiegel Institut is now strategically well positioned for future growth in a dynamically growing market segment.

The Spiegel Institute is an internationally operating consultancy firm for consumer research and user experience consulting. Its services also include usability engineering, UX empowerment and data consulting. The family-owned company was founded in 1950 and has established itself as an innovation leader in pioneering concepts for human-machine interfaces for different user cases. Especially in technically challenging fields of applications, such as the automotive, med-tech and household appliance industries, the Spiegel Institut has built an outstanding track record and is closely connected and associated with leading OEMs of the respective industry. Today, the Spiegel Institut employs more than 130 employees at seven locations across Germany and in Asia.

Rhein Invest is an entrepreneurial driven German-Dutch investment firm, which concentrates on medium-sized companies with a strong DNA. The fund is set up similar to an evergreen structure and enables long term investments without predefined holding periods. The interdisciplinary team is based in Amstelveen near Amsterdam and consists of Dutch and German team members. The industry focus lies on profitable industrial, business service, software, agritech companies.

"Three years ago, we initiated a change process and wanted to better position the company for future market requirements and global megatrends, increase our financial position and to diversify investment risks. Rhein Invest and Dr. Andree Kang are the ideal partners, enabling us to further develop the strategy in a sustainable manner ", explains Andreas Baur, former shareholder of the Spiegel Institut.

We can now step-back from the day-to-day business, feeling confident that this step secures the future market position of the company in a sustainable way. The management team and our employees will enjoy a very solid basis for further growth and business development opportunities. We would like to thank IMAP for their professional support, which made this sustainable solution possible," adds Götz Spiegel, partner and son of the founder of the Spiegel Institute.

Dr. Andree Kang comments: "I’m honoured and delighted to step into the tracks initially laid out by Prof. Bernt Spiegel. Götz and Uta Spiegel as well as Andreas Baur will continue to be part of Spiegel Institut’s future journey in their role as shareholders. In addition, Spiegel Institut relies on a highly competent and respected team of experts delivering value to its customers every day. The main objective for the future will be developing and expanding our existing customer partnerships. This will be complemented through e.g. the expansion of our portfolio and geographical presence as well as by entering new target industries and markets. We look forward to the challenges and opportunities lying ahead of us."

“We have already been working closely together with Dr. Kang for three years. We know each other well, trust each other and, are convinced that his leadership experience and skills will stimulate further growth. Especially in strategic initiatives, such as inorganic growth activities, we will support the management team with our experiences and financial strength as investors and entrepreneurs”, says Kevin Heerema, founding partner of Rhein Invest.

The IMAP team consisting of Peter Koch , Marco Strogusch, Nils Keller and Tim Buttelmann exclusively accompanied and advised the Spiegel Institut and their shareholders in all phases of the succession process.