The shareholders of Spiegel Institut, a leading consulting company focused on user Experience Consulting, have sold a majority stake to the Dutch private equity investor Rhein Invest as part of a succession solution and shareholder structure reorganization. With this transaction, Dr. Andree Kang will also join the company as a buy-in manager. As CEO, he will strengthen the existing management team around Managing Director Beate Irmer and contribute his 30+ years of experience and expertise from various top management functions to the further development of Spiegel Institut. The existing shareholders will remain associated with Spiegel Institut closely, both as shareholders and through an advisory board and consultancy function. With this step, Spiegel Institut has strategically positioned itself for future development in a dynamically growing market segment.

Rhein Management BV, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Rhein Management is a German-Dutch private equity investor which invests on a long-term basis in medium-sized companies with a high level of innovation and an expandable market position in the Netherlands and Germany. The company is particularly interested in profitable companies in the sectors of industry, software, services, food and agricultural technology and special distribution.

Spiegel Institut Mannheim GmbH & Co. KG, Mannheim, Germany

Spiegel Institut is an internationally operating research and consulting company for Consumer Research and User Experience Consulting. In addition to these core competencies, the range of services also includes Usability Engineering, UX empowerment and Data Consulting. Since its foundation in 1950, the family-owned company has established itself as a leading developer of innovative and forward-looking concepts for human-machine-interfaces. Especially in technically demanding industries such as automotive, medical- and household technology, Spiegel Institut has built up outstanding competencies and references and has been firmly anchored in the development departments of leading OEMs for many years. In the past fiscal year, Spiegel Institut employed more than 130 people spread across seven locations in Germany and Asia.

The IMAP team exclusively accompanied and advised the Spiegel Institut and their shareholders in all phases of the succession process.

"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.