Shearman & Sterling advised CVC Credit Partners and Oldenburgische Landesbank Aktiengesellschaft (OLB) on the unitranche financing of the acquisition of pro optik by PARAGON PARTNERS. The founders of pro optik sold the majority of pro optik to the Munich-based investor PARAGON PARTNERS and to Hannibal Zemariam, long-time employee and current managing director of the company. The two founders, Rainer Hildebrandt and Peter Hoppert, will continue to hold a financial interest in pro optik.

Since its foundation in 1987, pro optik has grown from a single-store company to the third-largest optician chain in Germany. The chain, headquartered in Wendlingen, Germany, currently spans a network of 145 stores that is built on a successful partnership model.

PARAGON PARTNERS is a leading private equity group with more than €1.2 billion of equity capital under management, specializing in investments in medium-sized companies in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Based in Munich, Germany, PARAGON PARTNERS works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.

CVC Credit Partners is the credit management business of CVC. CVC Credit Partners is a global credit asset manager with offices in the U.S. and Europe, 60 investment professionals and US$23.9 billion assets under management as of June 30, 2019.

OLB is a modern financial group which, in addition to private and corporate customer business as its core area, also offers nationwide tailor-made solutions from a single source for complex financial issues. It is one of the leading arrangers in the German-speaking LBO market.

The Team