At a time when sports tech investing is on a roll, Warburg Pincus has taken a majority investment in Uvex Winter Holding GmbH & Co., a 99-year-old German maker of technology-enhanced personal protective equipment. Representing Warburg Pincus in the announcement, Tobias Weidner, Managing Director, said the firm is excited to partner with the Winter and Grau families to expand uvex’s global reach and market leadership in protective equipment.
Uvex makes wares like ski helmets, goggles, sunglasses, and bike locks that use technology for a competitive edge. Uvex said it will use the investment to acquire companies, grow internationally, and enter new markets.
Tech and sports
This deal comes at a time when the intersection of tech and sports is attracting significant funding, driven in part by school sports returning after the pandemic.
Warburg and Uvex did not disclose terms of the transaction, but Bloomberg valued the deal at over $900 million and named Goldman Sachs and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) among banks lending almost $600 million in debt to finance the deal.
Tech investment bank Drake Star Partners pegged the number of sports tech deals in the first half of the year at 233 and the total deal value at $32 billion. In one notable deal this May, private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners agreed to acquire Eos Fitness, which uses EGYM smart strength technology, for $1.5 billion.
This appears to be Warburg’s first foray into sports equipment, and Uvex’s first outside investment in 100 years. Since its inception, Uvex has been owned by the Winter family, beginning in 1926 when Philipp M. Winter began making protective eyewear. Winter’s granddaughter Gabriele Grau joined the family business in the early 1980s. Both the Winter and Grau family said they will retain “significant” stakes following Warburg’s investment.
Warburg has made a couple of transactions into Europe in the last couple of months. Europe has experienced increasing private equity interest as investors seek attractive valuations and a way to minimize tariff uncertainty.
In April, Warburg announced it would provide up to $300 million in equity to establish a London-based CFO advisory firm, Unity Advisory, with Marissa Thomas, former managing partner of PwC UK, and Steve Varley, formerly chair of EY UK.
Uvex began as a maker of protective eyewear founded by Philipp Winter in 1926. He named it Optische-Industrie-Anstalt Philipp M. Winter. His son Rainer Winter created the Uvex brand, Uvex meaning “ultraviolet excluded,” 30 years later.
Uvex has made a few acquisitions in its past. In 2001, it acquired Heckel, a maker of industrial footwear. In 2016, it invested in HexArmor, a U.S.-based maker of industrial protective equipment for hands, feet, body and eyes.
