- With this second acquisition in four months, Lavatio actively continues its buy-and-build strategy.
- Lavatio strengthens its position in Germany, its main country of operation alongside Austria and Switzerland, mainly in the Rhine-Main and Rhine-Neckar metropolitan regions.
- Lavatio is the first German investment of Argos Climate Action, a fund dedicated to building European sustainable leaders by reducing portfolio companies’ CO₂ intensity by at least 7.5% annually.
Strengthening regional presence and services
Lavatio, a laundry services group active in the DACH region, has acquired the large-scale German laundry Witteler & Burkhardt (W&B). This marks Lavatio’s second acquisition within just four months, following the acquisition of Alpenland in September.
With the integration of W&B, Lavatio continues its regional expansion and now employs more than 1,000 people, processing around 300 tonnes of laundry per day. The former shareholders of W&B will remain involved in the business and through a reinvestment in the Lavatio Group.
“The world’s most modern large-scale laundry”
Sven Witteler and Sabrina Burkhardt, former shareholders of Witteler & Burkhardt, explain: “When we were named Laundry of the Year in 2019 for exemplary energy efficiency, Südwestrundfunk described us as ‘the world’s most modern large-scale laundry.’ We are very proud of that. It was clear to us that we would only sell to an owner who shares our high standards in terms of innovation and sustainability.”
W&B Managing Director Markus Zwaller adds: “This is the case with the Lavatio Group. We are very much looking forward to continuing to grow our business together within a strong group, with even greater proximity to our customers, while further optimising our CO₂ footprint.”
Markus Zwaller will continue to run the business unchanged under the new ownership.
Industry 4.0 technologies with a comprehensive and efficient energy-saving concept
Witteler & Burkhardt is based in Ladenburg, between Heidelberg and Mannheim. Its customer base includes more than 60 hotels in the Rhine-Main and Rhine-Neckar metropolitan regions. W&B employs around 100 people and has a processing capacity of up to 55 tonnes of laundry per day. The laundry relies on state-of-the-art Industry 4.0 technologies with a high level of automation, as well as a comprehensive and efficient energy-saving concept including heat and water recovery and the use of solar energy.
“Operating our business in an increasingly CO₂-neutral way is not only a personal priority for us, but also a response to our customers’ expectations,” explains Lars Blechschmidt. “The choice of a textile and laundry service provider can have a significant impact on a hotel’s environmental footprint, for example. With the Lavatio Group, we aim to be the partner of choice for sustainability-driven hotels and to set new standards, helping our customers achieve their sustainability goals. This also applies to customers in other sectors, such as catering and healthcare.”
Group grows to more than 1,000 employees and around 300 tonnes of laundry per day
Following the acquisition, Lavatio now employs more than 1,000 people and processes approximately 300 tonnes of laundry per day. The Group provides textile rental and laundry services to more than 2,300 active customers across the hospitality, catering, healthcare and workwear sectors.
Lars Blechschmidt, CEO of Lavatio, comments: “Witteler & Burkhardt is a major asset for our Group – a highly modern operation led by an experienced and successful manager. This acquisition brings us significantly closer to our decarbonisation goals and enables synergies as well as improved logistics across the Group. Together, we will be able to serve customers in the Rhine-Main and Rhine-Neckar metropolitan regions even better, while continuously improving the sustainability of our operations.”
Lavatio accelerates decarbonisation, supported by the Argos Climate Action Fund
The acquisition is fully aligned with the objectives of Argos Climate Action, Argos’ decarbonisation-focused fund. By optimising logistics and modernising operations, Lavatio will continue to lower its carbon footprint, contributing to the fund’s ambitious annual CO₂ reduction target of 7.5%.
Fabian Söffge, Partner at Argos, concludes “This acquisition is a textbook buy-and-build case. The add-on strengthens Lavatio’s regional footprint, creates meaningful operational synergies — particularly in logistics — and supports the next phase of growth. At the same time, Witteler & Burkhardt already operates at a very high sustainability standard, which allows us to further reduce the Group’s carbon footprint while scaling the platform. This combination of growth, efficiency and decarbonisation is exactly what we look for in transformative add-on acquisitions.”
Argos
Coralie Cornet
Head of Communications
[email protected]
+33 (0)6 14 38 33 37
Argos German press agency
Sara Guennewig
[email protected]
Lavatio Group
Nicole Szabo
[email protected]
About Argos / argos.fund
One firm, two strategies. Argos is an independent European private equity group that supports the growth of mid-sized businesses and backs their management teams.
With €2bn in assets under management, over 35 years of experience and more than 100 businesses assisted, Argos operates from offices in Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, Luxembourg, Milan, and Paris. The group seeks to acquire majority stakes and invests between €10m and €100m in each investment of its two strategies:
- The Argos Mid-Market fund unlocks business potential and helps companies make it to the next level.
- The Argos Climate Action fund (SFDR art. 9) aims at shaping European sustainable leaders by making their ‘grey-to-green’ transition.
About Lavatio / lavatio-gruppe.de
Headquartered in Germany Lavatio provides textile rental and laundry services to more than 2,300 active customers across the hospitality, catering, healthcare and workwear sectors in Germany and Switzerland.
The company operates as a one-stop shop for all laundry services — from sourcing and logistics to washing, ironing, drying, quality control and the return of textiles — and currently processes around 300 tonnes of laundry per day.
Lavatio operates ten laundries under nine local brands. In addition, the company works with more than 50 partner laundries to further expand its geographical reach.
