By integrating Wäsche Perle, Elis continues to execute an external growth strategy whose very consistency is a strong signal in itself. The industrial laundry based in Interlaken is joining an already dense network, following the same logic that has turned the group into the world leader in circular services: targeted, modestly sized acquisitions, on markets where it is already present, serving the methodical densification of its network.
Analysis by the experts at Auris Finance, advisors in mergers, acquisitions and financial engineering.
Elis has announced the acquisition of 100% of Wäsche Perle in Switzerland. The company operates a modern laundry in Interlaken, near Bern, in the heart of one of the country’s main tourist destinations, and employs 120 people. It provides flat linen rental and maintenance services to hotel and restaurant clients and generated revenue of around 13.5 million euros in 2025. Wäsche Perle has been consolidated in the accounts as of 1 May 2026. The management team will remain in place to continue developing the business locally.
An acquisition driven by leadership momentum
Wäsche Perle is neither Elis‘s first acquisition in Switzerland nor the last to be announced. It fits into an external growth trajectory whose consistency is in itself a strong strategic signal. In 2025, Elis actively pursued its targeted acquisitions strategy with close to ten deals completed, mainly on the flat linen market in Europe and Latin America, bringing its annual revenue to 4.8 billion euros, up 4.9% on 2024.
Switzerland is familiar ground. In the first quarter of 2025, Elis had already integrated Bodensee in Switzerland, alongside Carsan in Spain and Ernst in Germany, three acquisitions whose combined revenue reached around 55 million euros in 2024. Wäsche Perle is now joining that existing network, covering a specific geographic segment, the Interlaken region, and a specific customer segment, tourism hospitality.
Elis has confirmed that several additional small and mid-sized acquisitions are already under review for the second half of 2026, as part of a long-established strategy. Wäsche Perle is therefore not a one-off deal: it is one piece of a puzzle whose assembly is planned, financed and executed with an industrial discipline that few listed players are able to sustain over time.
The bolt-on logic: densifying rather than extending
What sets Elis‘s strategy apart is its refusal of diversification in favour of densification. Each acquisition targets a geography where the group is already present, a customer segment that it knows, such as hospitality, healthcare or industry, and a size that allows rapid integration with no operational friction.
Elis is one of the European leaders in flat linen, workwear and hygiene and wellbeing equipment rental and maintenance, with more than 400,000 customers across hospitality, healthcare, industry and services. At the end of 2025, the group operates more than 480 production and distribution centres around the world.
It is this network densification model, adding a production centre in an area already covered by existing customers, sales teams and logistics, that generates the fastest and most predictable synergies. Wäsche Perle’s revenues plug into an already well-oiled network: no infrastructure build-out costs, no commercial risk on an unknown market, and a management team that stays in place to ensure customer continuity.
A structurally buoyant rental and maintenance market
The global textile rental and maintenance market is estimated at more than one billion Swiss francs in Switzerland alone, with worldwide growth projected at 5 to 7% per year through to 2030, driven by outsourcing trends and sustainability requirements. In Switzerland specifically, the hospitality and restaurant sector represents a structurally stable outlet: the country welcomes tens of millions of tourist overnight stays every year, with a particularly strong concentration in Alpine regions such as Interlaken, precisely where Wäsche Perle operates.
This logic of building a territorial network in areas with high hotel density lies at the heart of Elis’s value creation: a well-located laundry centre generates increasing returns as the volume of local customers grows, with no significant marginal cost.
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