Sale of duagon to Knorr-Bremse underscores DBAG’s IndustryTech strategy and buy-and-build success

Secondary buyouts are the dominant exit strategy in the European private equity market, making up 40 per cent of all disposals in 2024.

(IN BRIEF) Deutsche Beteiligungs AG (DBAG) has successfully exited its investment in duagon, selling its stake from DBAG Fund VII to Knorr-Bremse AG. The deal demonstrates DBAG’s ability to achieve strategic exits despite a European private equity market dominated by secondary buyouts, which accounted for 40 percent of disposals in 2024. Under DBAG’s ownership, duagon expanded significantly, becoming a global leader in embedded electronics for the rail sector. Growth was accelerated through strategic acquisitions, including MEN Mikro Elektronik, OEM Technology Solutions, and TechOnRails, which strengthened the company’s expertise in safety-critical systems, monitoring, and signalling. duagon now benefits from strong structural tailwinds as the global rail systems market is forecast to grow from USD 31 billion in 2025 to USD 48 billion by 2035, supported by large-scale infrastructure investment and digitalisation. The sale adds to DBAG Fund VII’s track record of high-performing exits, building on disposals such as evidia, Cloudflight, and Pmflex, and underlines DBAG’s focus on IndustryTech investments in digitalisation and automation.

(PRESS RELEASE) FRANKFURT/MAIN, 25-Sep-2025 — /EuropaWire/ — Deutsche Beteiligungs AG (DBAG) has completed a successful exit from its investment in duagon, a leading supplier of embedded hardware and software solutions for safety-critical rail applications. DBAG Fund VII, advised by DBAG, together with DBAG itself, has agreed to sell its shares in the company to Knorr-Bremse AG, the global technology leader for braking systems and rail and commercial vehicle equipment. The transaction remains subject to regulatory approval.

The disposal represents another strong outcome for DBAG Fund VII, with the financial contribution from the deal fully in line with expectations. DBAG confirmed its guidance that the fund’s net asset value as of 31 December 2025 will remain within the forecast range published earlier this year.

The European mid-market buyout segment spearheads private equity benchmarks in Europe, with top-quartile funds achieving a multiple of 2.15x.

Strategic exit in a changing M&A landscape
The transaction highlights DBAG’s ability to execute strategic exits in a private equity market increasingly shaped by secondary buyouts, which accounted for 40 percent of all European exits in 2024—up 15 percentage points compared to 2020. Despite this shift, DBAG was able to secure a strategic buyer, underlining the continued attractiveness of duagon as a long-term growth platform.

duagon’s rise as a rail technology leader
Since DBAG first invested, duagon has built a strong position in the rail electronics market, benefiting from megatrends such as digitalisation, electrification, and large-scale infrastructure programs. In Germany alone, more than €106 billion will be invested in rail by 2029, creating significant opportunities for technology suppliers. Globally, the rail systems market is forecast to expand from around USD 31 billion in 2025 to USD 48 billion by 2035, an average annual growth rate of 4.4 percent. duagon’s products, including embedded computing systems, IoT-based monitoring tools, predictive maintenance solutions, and digital signalling technologies, are directly aligned with this demand.

duagon’s growth was accelerated through targeted acquisitions: MEN Mikro Elektronik (2018), OEM Technology Solutions (2019), and TechOnRails (2020). Each addition broadened the company’s expertise, from safety-critical computer systems to monitoring, control, and signalling services. By integrating these businesses, DBAG positioned duagon as a scaled, independent technology partner for the global rail industry.

Proven value creation across market cycles
The sale of duagon follows earlier DBAG Fund VII exits, including evidia (2021), Cloudflight (2023), and Pmflex (2023), and reflects DBAG’s ability to consistently deliver above-average returns. Its long-term performance across funds exceeds top-quartile benchmarks in the European mid-market buyout sector. A core driver has been DBAG’s expertise in structuring succession solutions for family-owned companies, which provided the foundation for duagon’s add-on acquisitions.

DBAG’s IndustryTech focus
The exit underscores DBAG’s strategy of concentrating on industrial technology investments that benefit from digitalisation, automation, and Industry 4.0. duagon exemplifies this approach, thriving even through challenging periods such as the semiconductor shortage between 2020 and 2023.

Commenting on the transaction, Tom Alzin, Spokesman of DBAG’s Board of Management, said:
“Our successful exit from duagon demonstrates the strength of our buy-and-build approach and our ability to support portfolio companies through market challenges. We helped duagon grow into a recognised technology leader, and this outcome confirms our role as a trusted partner for succession solutions and value creation.”

Dr Michael Goldbach, CEO of duagon, added:
“DBAG has been instrumental in shaping our growth over the past eight years. With their support, we transformed duagon into a leading technology partner for the rail industry. We are excited to begin the next chapter of our development with Knorr-Bremse AG.”

Deutsche Beteiligungs AG (DBAG) has been listed since 1985 and is one of the most renowned private equity firms in Germany. As an investor and fund advisor, DBAG traditionally focuses on mid-market companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (the “DACH” region), and especially on wellpositioned companies offering growth potential. DBAG’s sector focus is on manufacturers, industrial service providers and IndustryTech enterprises – businesses whose products facilitate automation, robotics and digitalisation – as well as on companies from the IT services, software, healthcare, and environment, energy and infrastructure sectors. Since 2020, DBAG has been present on the Italian market, providing its services from its office in Milan since 2021. DBAG Group’s assets under management or advisory amount to approximately 2.7 billion euros. ELF Capital has expanded DBAG’s range of flexible financing solutions for mid-market companies to include private debt.

Media Contact:

Youssef Zauaghi
Senior Manager, Investor Relations & Public Relations
Untermainanlage 1 · 60329 Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Telephone: +49 69 95787-363 · +49 175 7032271 (mobile)
E-mail: youssef.zauaghi@dbag.de

SOURCE: Deutsche Beteiligungs AG