In the SektorReport Industrials Q4 2025, we highlight a deal driver that is becoming increasingly important in industrial and plant markets: servitization. This refers to the targeted shift from traditional, one-off product sales to holistic service concepts that support the operation of plants throughout their entire lifecycle. The aim of this development is to sustainably increase plant availability, energy efficiency, and safety while generating more stable, predictable revenue streams.
The economic appeal of this model is well documented: Aftermarket services, for example, have an average EBIT margin of around 25%, which is significantly higher than the approximately 10% in the new equipment business. In addition to higher margins, providers also benefit from longer-term customer relationships and less cyclical sales.
Against this backdrop, it is understandable why M&A activity in the service sector is picking up. Large industrial suppliers and platforms are specifically acquiring specialized service providers in order to build regional coverage, responsiveness, and technical depth more quickly and with less risk than would be possible through organic growth. In the following Sector Insight, we systematically classify how this servitization logic is materializing in the German market based on two recent transactions. More on this on page 3 of the report.
A current example of this trend is the acquisition of DEMIS GmbH by Aurelius. With this transaction, the globally active private equity investor is securing access to a growing market in which companies are increasingly relying on service-based concepts through a specialized provider of technical industrial services. More on this on page 4 of the report.
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