STAR Capital to acquire nextbike
29 April 2024
STAR Capital Partnership LLP (“STAR”) is pleased to announce that the STAR IV Fund has signed an agreement to acquire nextbike Group (“nextbike”) from TIER Mobility SE. nextbike is a leading developer and provider of innovative urban bike sharing solutions in Europe. As part of this carve-out transaction, STAR will become the majority shareholder and invest alongside the management team. The transaction is expected to complete in May 2024.
Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Leipzig, nextbike provides public bike sharing schemes on behalf of public transport authorities, cities and public institutions. nextbike’s unique and holistic approach generates bike sharing solutions that are tailor made for each city’s respective infrastructure and work as a natural extension of established public transportation. nextbike has developed proprietary hard-and software solutions that allow the company to offer bespoke solutions to its clients including any combination of pedal bikes, e-bikes, cargo-bikes and docking stations.
The company has expanded globally via its own operations and franchise partnerships and is currently active in over 300 cities with a deployed fleet of c. 115k bicycles. Its services and products deliver clear environmental and social benefits for cities and municipalities through emission reductions and health advantages to citizens.
nextbike exhibits a number of the strategic qualities STAR looks for in its investments: it has a leading position in a growing market driven by structural tailwinds. The company provides an essential service underpinned by long term contracts with blue chip partners translating into a high proportion of recurring revenues. In addition to an attractive growth dynamic, the underlying market demonstrates high barriers to entry, driven by scale and track record requirements. Finally, nextbike benefits from sticky long-term customer relationships, a material asset base and a diverse contract portfolio.
nextbike represents the STAR IV fund’s third acquisition to date, after ABL Technic and MYFLEXBOX.
STAR has a successful track record in value generation and driving growth, typically investing in asset-based companies that provide an essential service to its customers, with enterprise value between €50 million and €1 billion.
