Industrial Services

In brief: An owner-managed industrial services business in the DACH region is currently valued at around 4.0 to 6.5x EBITDA. Project-heavy assembly businesses sit lower, inspection and automation-related businesses higher (derived from DUB KMU-Multiples Q3/2026). Active buyers include SPIE, Bilfinger, VINCI Energies, Assemblin Caverion and INDUS, some of them from around €5m of revenue. Plan for 6 to 9 months from preparation to closing.

Market overview: industrial services in the DACH region

Industrial services covers the technical services around industrial plants: servicing and maintenance, industrial assembly, piping and apparatus service, electrical, instrumentation and control (MSR) and automation technology, industrial cleaning and plant-related waste services, scaffolding, insulation, corrosion protection, and testing and inspection services. Customers are chemicals, refining, power generation, steel and paper.

To draw the line: commercial and professional B2B services are covered under Business Services, building operation under Facility Management, and plant technology inside buildings under Building Technology and Fire Safety. Plant-related waste and residue services are under Environmental Services. This page is only about technical services at the industrial plant.

There is no reliable, publicly citable market volume figure for industrial services in the DACH region. The figures in circulation range from over €20bn to around €40bn for Germany alone, depending on the definition and mostly without a survey year. The supplier structure says more. The TOP 20 ranking of German industrial service providers shows for 2025 WISAG Industrie Service Holding with €1,126m, Bilfinger with €977m and REMONDIS Maintenance und Services with €896m of industrial revenue (VAIS/Dr. Jörg-Peter Naumann Gesellschaft, TOP 20 ranking 2026, via produktion.de, 06/2026). Even the market leader operates in the low single-digit billions. The fragmentation shows more clearly at this top end than in an estimated number of providers.

Demand is under pressure in 2026. German industrial production in June 2026 was 0.1% below the same month of the previous year, manufacturing 0.8% (Federal Statistical Office, press release No. 279, 7 August 2026). Chemicals, the most important customer industry, produced around 3% less in the first half of 2026, and revenue fell 1% to €106bn (VCI half-year review 2026, 07/2026). Capacity utilisation of chemical plants was most recently around 70%, a historic low (VCI economic briefing, 11 December 2025). For your business, this is the most direct demand indicator: low utilisation means less wear, postponed shutdowns and smaller turnaround budgets.

At the same time, the industry is holding up better than its customers. The TOP 20 lost 0.3% of revenue in total in 2025, while industrial production fell 1.1%, and they increased headcount by 0.2% (VAIS/JPN, 06/2026). More robust does not mean free of strain. For the second quarter of 2026, Bilfinger reported order intake down 16% to €1,498m, measured against an exceptionally strong prior-year quarter, and an EBITA margin of 5.3% after 5.5%. Revenue in the same quarter rose 7% to €1,450m, and the ratio of order intake to revenue was 1.03 (Bilfinger SE, Q2 report, 08/2026). So the picture is subdued, not collapsed. The skills shortage, for years the industry's strongest outsourcing argument, has also eased: in February 2026 only 22.7% of companies reported a lack of skilled workers, 16.6% in industry, after 25.8% in October 2025 (ifo business survey, 18 February 2026). According to ifo, the cause is weak demand, not a solved structural problem. In the mid-qualification segment, around 29,000 technicians and master craftsmen are still missing (DIHK skills report 2025/2026).

Succession pressure remains the most stable driver of supply. Between 2026 and 2030, 186,000 companies in Germany are due for handover, 57,500 of them in manufacturing and 57,800 in business-related services (IfM Bonn, Daten und Fakten No. 37, November 2025). Around 29% of successions in family businesses go to buyers from outside the company, a further 17% to the company's own workforce (IfM Bonn, meta-analysis of 23 studies, 11/2025). In the size band that interests platform and add-on buyers, the IfM counts 29,800 companies with €2m to €5m of revenue and 10,700 with €5m to €10m.

Who is buying right now

These acquisitions in the sector are publicly documented:

• SPIE SE, SPIE Germany and Central Europe: The most active strategic consolidator in German industrial services. On 2 March 2026, SPIE agreed to acquire around 99% of ROFA Industrial Automation AG in Kolbermoor, with around €430m of revenue in 2025 and over 1,200 employees. Management keeps around 1% and stays in charge. On 25 March 2026 the SGS Industrial Services Group followed, with around €180m of revenue in 2025 and about 800 employees, strong in electrical and mechanical installation for power plants and industrial facilities. As of 1 July 2026, the Swiss nimeg ag with around €5m was added (SPIE SE, press releases 03/2026 and 07/2026).
• Bilfinger SE: Number two in the German ranking with €977m of industrial revenue in 2025. As of 1 April 2026, Bilfinger took over key business units of the Turkish Teknokon Group with around 1,000 employees, and as of 1 July 2026 the digital platform of Zentur.io (bilfinger.com, 04/2026 and 07/2026).
• VINCI Energies Germany, Actemium brand: Serial buyer of owner-managed technical Mittelstand businesses. On 4 February 2025 the TEHA Technology Group in Haltern am See, specialised in instrumentation and control technology, and on 28 July 2025 SP Consulting GmbH in Ludwigshafen with 28 employees and around €2.5m of revenue in 2024 (vinci-energies.com, 02/2025 and 09/2025).
• Assemblin Caverion Group, portfolio company of Triton Partners: Buys squarely in the lower mid-market. Announced on 19 March 2026 and completed on 31 March 2026: S&A Schaltanlagenbau GmbH in Garbsen, automation technology and switchgear construction, 45 employees and just over €6m of annual revenue in 2025. The brand remains, and the previous co-owner continues to run the business as managing director (caverion.com, 03/2026; deal-magazin.com, 03/2026). The group was formed in 2024 from the merger of Assemblin and Caverion driven by Triton.
• WISAG Industrie Service Holding SE: Largest German industrial service provider in 2025 with €1,126m, a family business covering maintenance, technical cleaning, plant construction and production logistics (VAIS/JPN, 06/2026).
• REMONDIS Maintenance und Services: Number three with €896m (VAIS/JPN, 06/2026). Under this umbrella the group combines XERVON for scaffolding, insulation and corrosion protection and BUCHEN for industrial cleaning and hazardous substance remediation (remondis-maintenance.com, company profile). For businesses in exactly these niches, the most obvious buyer.
• INDUS Holding AG: A long-term holder rather than a fund with a fixed term. Buys majority stakes in Mittelstand industrial and technology companies, explicitly also as a succession solution, and plans to deploy around €500m for acquisitions by 2030 (indus.eu, 24 March 2025).

A sale signal shows that financial investors also find the sector worth buying at large scale: according to press reports of 30 March 2026, SMS group and Altor Equity Partners are considering selling their joint 50% stake in KAEFER SE, valued at over €2bn, and private equity investors have shown interest (Börsen-Zeitung, 30 March 2026). The considerations are said to be at an early stage. This is not a confirmed transaction.

One buyer type is almost always missing from such announcements: the Mittelstand strategic and the family office. Both buy without a press release, often in the neighbouring region, and for a business with €5m to €15m of revenue they are frequently the more realistic address than a large group. How the buyer groups differ in price, speed and freedom after closing is set out in the comparison PE investor vs strategic buyer. The German private equity Mittelstand market with transaction volumes between €50m and €250m stagnated in 2025 compared with the previous year (FINANCE Midmarket-Buy-outs 2025, 01/2026). Solid, not booming.

EBITDA multiples in the sector

The DUB KMU-Multiples have no separate row for industrial services. Two neighbouring industries serve as reference: Business-related services (B2B) at 3.7 to 5.4x in micro cap, 5.0 to 7.2x in small cap and 6.4 to 8.0x in mid cap, and Mechanical and plant engineering at 3.5 to 4.7x, 4.6 to 6.0x and 5.6 to 7.3x (dub.de/kmu-multiples, Q3/2026). Framework agreement business aligns with the first row, project business with the second.

All sub-segment values below stay within these two bands. The 8 to 12x often quoted in the market for integrated platforms is not covered by the KMU-Multiples. It comes from individual auction results of considerably larger transactions.

Data basis: DUB KMU-Multiples (dub.de/kmu-multiples), Q3/2026, industries Business-related services (B2B) and Mechanical and plant engineering. A separate DUB row for industrial services does not exist, the sub-segment values are derived from these. Sub-segment classification and analysis: SourcingClub. The EBITDA bands smooth out quarterly swings and are therefore not identical to the DUB raw values in every segment (methodology, in German). Full ranges by size class: EBITDA Multiples DACH.

The buyers show why automation service sits at the top. In March 2026, SPIE took over ROFA Industrial Automation AG with around €430m of revenue (SPIE SE, 03/2026), and in the same month Caverion Deutschland acquired S&A Schaltanlagenbau GmbH with just over €6m (caverion.com, 03/2026). Where two strategics reach for the same trade in the same quarter, at both ends of the size scale, competition for targets is greater.

What raises the multiple and what lowers it

Valuation example: an industrial services business with €11.5m revenue, worked through

A fictitious but typical case: 62 employees, €11.5m of revenue, maintenance and industrial assembly for two chemical parks. €6.9m, or 60% of revenue, runs through two framework agreements with 2 and 4 years of remaining term, and the largest customer accounts for 41%. SCC and ISO 45001 are in place. The owner is 63 and still does part of the estimating himself.

The same calculation with two changes shows what preparation is worth. If the largest customer drops below 30% before the process and the expiring framework agreement is extended by 3 years, 6.0x is realistic. The enterprise value is then €6.12m and the equity value €5.42m, around €1.0m more, without any change to the operating business.

Pay attention to which earnings figure sits under the multiple. The bands above apply to EBITDA, not EBIT. The difference is depreciation, and in equipment-intensive industrial services with suction equipment, lifting gear, scaffolding material and vehicle fleet it is large. In the example above, €250k of depreciation would push earnings down to €770k, which at the same multiple means around €1.3m less enterprise value. All figures in this example are fictitious, the bands come from the sources named.

The sale process in the sector

Plan for 6 to 9 months from preparation to closing. With a larger strategic buyer, merger control clearance comes on top. For SPIE and the SGS Industrial Services Group, around three months lay between signing on 25 March 2026 and the expected closing (spie.de, 2026).

Three topics are different here from elsewhere. The first is approvals. In the chemical, refinery and power plant environment, SCC is in effect a condition of access. In a certified company, at least 90% of the employees working operationally at the customer's site must hold a valid safety pass (SGU rules, SCC certification), and the accident frequency of the last three years is checked against limits. On top of that come prequalifications and supplier approvals from anchor customers, which are often re-examined when the shareholder changes. If you know which customers have a notification or consent requirement, you steer the process. If you only find out in due diligence, you lose negotiating position.

The second is the line between a contract for work and temporary agency work. What counts is not the name of the contract but how it works in practice: who gives instructions, who organises the work, who is responsible for the result. If a contract for work tips into disguised temporary agency work, the sanctions of the AÜG apply: anyone who supplies workers without a permit from the Federal Employment Agency risks a fine of up to €30,000 (Section 16(1) no. 1 in conjunction with (2) AÜG).

The third is the financials in project business. Work in progress, claims for variations and warranty provisions are the most frequent points of dispute in the working capital mechanism. Provisions for dismantling, partial retirement and working time accounts reduce the purchase price via net financial debt and flow into the equity value. Seasonality also distorts every interim figure, which is why three financial years plus an order backlog list are a better route than a twelve-month figure in the middle of the turnaround season.

The data room minimum: an overview of certifications with validity dates, accident statistics over three years, a list of framework agreements with terms and change of control clauses, revenue per customer over three years, order backlog, a staff list with qualifications and safety passes, an equipment and vehicle fleet list with age and residual values, and lease and rental agreements.

Typical deal structures

The following ranges reflect market practice in the DACH lower mid-market. There are no official statistics on them.

• Share deal as the norm: Certifications, prequalifications and framework agreements sit with the company. In practice, an asset deal only occurs when a single business unit is carved out and the rest stays with the owner.
• Purchase price mechanism: Locked box was the standard in 54% of European transactions in 2025 (CMS European M&A Study 2026, 601 deals analysed, 27 March 2026). In project-heavy industrial services with fluctuating working capital, however, buyers often ask for closing accounts. A negotiating point in its own right, not a formality.
• Earn-out: 10 to 30% of the purchase price over 2 to 3 years on an EBITDA or EBIT basis, becoming more common according to the CMS study 2026. Here it is almost always tied to the renewal of the large framework agreements.
• Vendor loan: 5 to 15% of the purchase price, term 2 to 4 years, subordinated with interest. The usual bridge when the two sides are 0.5 to 1.0x apart on the multiple.
• Rollover: With PE platforms, entrepreneurs who stay on typically keep 10 to 25%. Strategics use it too: at SPIE and ROFA, management keeps around 1% and continues to run operations (spie.de, 03/2026).
• Transition phase: 6 to 24 months, towards the upper end for add-ons into a platform. It is paid separately from the purchase price through a managing director or consultancy contract.
• Protection: W&I insurance from an enterprise value of around €10m to €15m, below that an escrow of 5 to 10% over 12 to 24 months.
• Property split: The depot usually stays with you, combined with a 10-year lease plus option at market rent. For you a predictable income, for the buyer a calculable cost block.
• Retention agreements: For site managers, estimators and QHSE officers they often become a closing condition. If you raise them only after signing, you negotiate from the weaker position.

Whether a broad auction or a bilateral conversation fits better depends on your customer structure. The broad process creates more upward price pressure, the bilateral conversation gives you more control over timing, confidentiality and the choice of buyer. With strong customer concentration, confidentiality is often worth more than the last half multiple point.

For PE investors: the buy-and-build thesis in brief

The consolidation logic is intact, but in 2026 it works differently from the low interest rate years. The arbitrage between a regional standalone business and an integrated platform moves within the KMU bands of around 4.0 to 6.5x to 6.4 to 8.0x (derived from DUB KMU-Multiples Q3/2026), not in the often quoted range up to 12x. Value creation therefore comes less from the multiple jump and more from purchasing, utilisation of specialist equipment across sites, a shared QHSE organisation and access to framework agreements that a regional business is too small for on its own.

The barriers to entry protect the margin: certifications, prequalifications from anchor customers, the workforce's safety passes and the permit situation for waste management and WHG specialist companies cannot be built up at short notice. The deal supply comes from demographics, with 57,500 pending handovers in manufacturing between 2026 and 2030 (IfM Bonn, 11/2025). And the relevant buyer layer demonstrably buys small: just over €6m of revenue at S&A Schaltanlagenbau (caverion.com, 03/2026), around €5m at nimeg ag (spie.de, 07/2026), around €2.5m at SP Consulting GmbH (vinci-energies.com, 09/2025). The mechanics are described in the article on the buy-and-build strategy in the DACH region (in German).

The bottleneck is not capital but access to owner-managed businesses before they enter a structured process. How systematic sourcing creates that access is set out under For Investors.

From my sourcing work

Two businesses of the same revenue size in this sector are often a full multiple point apart. What makes the difference is rarely the technology and almost always the contract side: how much revenue sits on framework agreements, how long they still run and how much of it depends on a single anchor customer. I also see that the active buyers here enter considerably smaller than many owners assume. Publicly documented are acquisitions with around €2.5m and around €5m of revenue (vinci-energies.com, 09/2025; spie.de, 07/2026). The second point that decides whether an owner is open to a conversation is whether the business runs without the owner. And the certification situation: a certification that expires in the year of the sale becomes a price issue long before anyone talks about the multiple.

Next step

Whether a handover is due in two years or only in five: the position within the valuation band can be prepared, and the most active buyers in the sector are known by name. A confidential match shows, without obligation, which buyer groups fit your business, without your company name circulating in the market early.