OEM primarily pursues three types of acquisitions, with the first two being the most common:
• Operations with products that complement the offer in one of OEM’s existing markets.
• Operations that give access to a new geographic market for one of OEM’S existing product areas.
• Operations of product-owning companies in one of the markets where OEM has an established position.
The CEOs and business area managers of OEM's operations have the primary responsibility for seeking and identifying potential acquisition candidates. OEM also works with brokers, accounting firms and banks who provide leads for interesting companies. OEM is striving to establish dialogues with owners of interesting companies at an early stage. This builds trusting relationships and provides the opportunity to demonstrate OEM’s ambition of being a long-term owner that can help with further developing and expanding operations following the completion of acquisitions. The ideal acquisition candidates have a number of common characteristics:
• Trading company or product-owning company with annual sales of SEK 30–250 million.
• Represents manufacturers or has its own brands.
• May have processing or simpler production facilities.
• The selling entity sees it as advantageous to have a new owner that is strongly committed to and interested in taking the business to the next stage of development.
OEM’s culture is characterised by a strong commitment to the operations and business. When analysing acquisition targets, there is therefore a focus on the business and areas such as the organisation, company culture, portfolio of offerings and future potential. How OEM’s other operations are affected by the acquisition, or can contribute to the acquisition in question, is also an important part of being able to make the most of synergies. Acquisitions can be carried out by OEM buying a company, with or without the previous owner remaining in the company, or by OEM buying a company’s operations, known as an asset acquisition.
The philosophy is to be an active and long-term owner. During the acquisition process, a plan is drawn up for further developing the acquired business. In many cases, OEMs take advantage of existing operations in order to open up new markets and customer groups. The range can be developed through the experiences of sister companies, along with a broad network of contacts with manufacturers. The acquired companies can continue to operate as separate companies or are integrated into one of the existing operations. The basis for these considerations is what is best for the current business and where are the greatest opportunities for growth.
No acquisitions were completed in 2024, although a number of acquisition-related discussions took place. The reasons for the lack of deals vary, including the fact that businesses were not considered to fit well with OEM, were not scalable, or that the seller’s price ambitions were ultimately higher than the OEM considered reasonable. Three acquisitions were completed in 2023, with a total annual turnover of SEK 200 million, while one acquisition with an annual turnover of SEK 200 million was carried out in 2022.