Mition acquires lift controller manufacturer

Mition GmbH Mittelstandsbeteiligungen has acquired the company ‘Detlef Klinkhammer Steuerungen und Komponenten für Aufzüge’ (KLST). The transaction took effect on 1 February 2025.

With the takeover, Mition aims to expand its own portfolio with an ‘established supplier of control systems, control cabinets and components for lifts’. At the same time, the succession in the medium-sized family business will be settled, according to a press release.

KLST was founded in 1989 by Detlef Klinkhammer. At its Zülpich site (North Rhine-Westphalia), the company develops and manufactures individual control systems for the lift industry, from simple freight lifts to complex group controls for new construction and modernisation, with around 60 employees.

According to Mition, KLST has manufactured and delivered around 35,000 control packages to date. In the past financial year 2024, KLST generated around 20 percent of its sales outside Germany.

No changes for employees

The change of ownership should not result in any changes for the employees in Zülpich: ‘We have acquired a well-positioned, economically successful company that offers a variety of starting points for further strategic development,’ explains Dr Dirk Pramann, managing partner at Mition.

‘Opportunities for this also arise, for example, in our portfolio,’ adds Johannes Erfurth, Mition CFO and also a shareholder in the holding company.

Company founder Detlef Klinkhammer – who will remain managing director – sees opportunities in the takeover by a ‘buyer with a strategic interest’: In the new constellation, there are ‘extraordinarily good growth opportunities’ for KLST, according to the company founder: ‘After the discussions of the past few months, I am convinced that we speak the same entrepreneurial language and that KLST will continue to develop well in the future.’

More information: Mition predominantly acquires majority stakes in medium-sized companies. The company emphasises that the investments are not made with the aim of resale. The funds for the equity investments come exclusively from the company's own balance sheet.

klst-lift.de
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