As previously announced, Nordstjernan AB (“Nordstjernan”) has confirmed, through pre-acceptance, that the company is divesting its holding in the Norwegian furniture group Ekornes ASA (“Ekornes”) to a Chinese consortium under the management of the Chinese furniture company Qumei Home Furnishings Group Co. Ltd. (“Qumei”), provided that the transaction is completed. At the end of the acceptance period, Qumei’s offer had the support of 98 percent of the shares in Ekornes. On August 29, 2018, Nordstjernan sold its entire ownership share of 17.2 percent in Ekornes to Qumei. The offer for all the shares in Ekornes was equivalent to a value of NOK 5.1 billion.

Nordstjernan initially invested in Ekornes in 2007, and has been the largest shareholder and represented on the Board of Directors since 2008. Since 2016, Nordstjernan’s Nora Förisdal Larssen has been the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ekornes. Over the past few years, Ekornes’ management and Board has enjoyed great success in terms of rationalizing costs and the acquisition of the furniture company IMG, based in Southeast Asia. A unanimous Board recommended the offer from Qumei on May 23, 2018. In order to ensure a successful ownership succession, Nordstjernan will continue to be represented on the Board of Ekornes for some time.

“Nordstjernan believes the new industrial ownership will create additional growth potential for Ekornes. We wish the company and the new owner constellation all the best in the future,” says Tomas Billing, CEO of Nordstjernan.

Tomas Billing
President and CEO
Nordstjernan AB

Questions will be answered by:

Tomas Billing, CEO of Nordstjernan
Telephone: +46 8 788 50 18
E-mail: tomas.billing@nordstjernan.se

Nordstjernan AB is a family-controlled investment company whose business concept is to be an active owner that creates long-term and positive value growth. More information about Nordstjernan can be found on www.nordstjernan.se.

Berlin – Funds advised by Gilde Buy Out Partners (“Gilde”) today announced the acquisition of Caseking Group (“Caseking” or the “Company”), together with the Founders and management. The terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.

Caseking, a leading supplier of high-performance PC-gaming equipment and peripherals, maintains a track record of strong organic growth, excellent market understanding and successful product placement supporting the future growth of the Company. Caseking has displayed consistent growth, both organically as well as through add-on acquisitions, becoming a leading platform for PC-gaming equipment in Europe. Operations are based in Germany, Great Britain, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Portugal and Taiwan. The Company processes 540.000 orders and sells approximately 4 million products worldwide per year. Products sold include own brands, brands exclusively available at Caseking and third-party brands.

Commenting on the sale, Toni Sonn, CEO of Caseking says: “I am thankful to all employees at Caseking for their contribution and support in putting the Company on a path of sustained growth. We have experienced exciting years with strong organic growth and the expansion of Caseking to other regions outside Germany. The sale of Caseking to Gilde will allow us to further strengthen the strong position of Caseking in the PC-gaming industry and we are looking forward to work with Gilde as an experienced partner for companies with a strong growth and expansion focus.”

Matthias Wilcken, Partner at Gilde: “We are impressed with Caseking’s track record of consistent growth and the ability to understand the needs of performance PC-gamers. The Company has built a leading position in Europe focusing on the most demanding clients in the categories of PC equipment and peripherals. Caseking is in an excellent position to further build on this solid foundation and to become the most respected brand within the PC-gaming community. We are excited to support Caseking in this next phase of development.” Read more at: http://gilde.com/news/2018/gilde-buy-out-partners-and-management-acquire-caseking-group

New York, July 16, 2018 – Eurazeo Brands has made an investment in Pat McGrath Labs, the iconic makeup brand created by Pat McGrath, the number one makeup artist in the world. Eurazeo, a leading global investment company with ~€16 billion of assets under management, joins ONE Luxury Group, a dedicated luxury investment fund, as minority shareholders in the company. Eurazeo’s total investment is $60 million, bringing total external funding to date to $88 million. The new capital will help Pat McGrath Labs build on its incredible success and enable the company to further expand its distribution in the U.S., as well as meet increasing demand worldwide. Additional terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded by McGrath in 2016, Pat McGrath Labs quickly revolutionized modern beauty through its must-have, straight-from-the-runway makeup experience. In its early days, products such as Pat McGrath Labs’ brilliant Gold 001, which sold out in less than six minutes, captured the imagination and attention of the industry, making it one of the most talked-about beauty launches. In the fall of 2017, Pat McGrath Labs debuted its core collection of makeup on patmcgrath.com and at select Sephora locations in North America. The highly anticipated launch generated incredible media attention and captivated consumers with some of the most unique and coveted makeup ever made available to the public. This fall will see the introduction of new product categories to complement the brand’s best-selling lipsticks, eyeliners and eyeshadows.

Pat McGrath Labs has reached top selling SKU status at Sephora with various hit products and was also voted the number one most engaged beauty brand in a Facebook survey of 500 top beauty brands. Pat McGrath Labs has already garnered over 30 billion media impressions since launch.

On creating Pat McGrath Labs and partnering with Eurazeo Brands, McGrath said: “It has always been my dream to create an iconic beauty brand that goes beyond the usual limitations, that lives outside the parameters of what is expected. I am thrilled to be working with the unique and expert team at Eurazeo Brands.”

“We are honored to be working with Pat, whose vision, talent and trailblazing history in the beauty industry have set Pat McGrath Labs up to be one of the most authentic and innovative makeup brands to ever come to market,” said Jill Granoff, CEO of Eurazeo Brands. “We’re excited to combine our experience of building global beauty and fashion brands with Pat and her team’s unmatched creativity and passion.” Granoff has also had a successful career in beauty and fashion, including 10 years in senior leadership roles at Estée Lauder and seven years at Victoria’s Secret Beauty, where she helped to double sales from $500 million to $1 billion and launched the brand internationally during her tenure as President and Chief Operating Officer.

Virginie Morgon, CEO of Eurazeo, added, “We look forward to joining Pat McGrath Labs on its global journey to reach millions of new consumers who have followed the brand for years. We love to partner with brilliant entrepreneurs like Pat and believe this investment will be a success.”

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EURAZEO CONTACTS

PRESS CONTACT

CAROLINE COHEN

HEAD OF INVESTOR RELATIONS

E-mail: ccohen@eurazeo.com

Tel: +33 (0)1 44 15 16 76

STEPHANIE MARIA-BAJARD

DIR. COMMUNICATION

E-mail:  smaria-bajard@eurazeo.com

Tel: +33 (0)1 44 15 80 44

EDELMAN

CARLEIGH ROESER

E-mail: Carleigh.roesler@edelman.com

Tel: (917) 344 4779

For more information,please visit the Group’s website: www.eurazeo.com

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About Pat McGrath

Pat McGrath is an incomparable beauty trendsetter, having inspired and created the most ground-breaking and celebrated makeup looks of the 21st century. Named “the most influential make-up artist in the world” by Vogue, McGrath curates and creates the makeup looks for the couture and prêt-a-porter runway shows of the leading luxury fashion houses, including Prada, Louis Vuitton, Versace, Givenchy, Maison Margiela, Valentino and many others.

McGrath created the makeup looks for every Vogue Italia cover for more than 10 years, working with legendary photographer Steven Meisel, as well as for countless other covers, editorials, and campaigns for the world’s pre-eminent publications and luxury brands. McGrath is Beauty Editor-at-Large for British Vogue. McGrath is also the creative force behind top international makeup brands, including Giorgio Armani cosmetics, Gucci Beauty, Dolce & Gabbana: The Makeup, and as former global creative director of P&G Beauty, successfully transformed P&G Beauty into a leading player in luxury color cosmetics.

McGrath was honored by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for services to fashion and beauty and has been designated a Member of the Order of the British Empire.

About Eurazeo Brands

Eurazeo Brands aims to invest a total of $800 million in high potential U.S. and European consumer companies with differentiated brands across a wide range of verticals including beauty, fashion, home, wellness, leisure and food. Eurazeo Brands partners with visionary founders and strong management teams to drive value creation by leveraging Eurazeo’s brand building and operating expertise, as well as its global network, with offices across four continents.

About Eurazeo

With a diversified portfolio of approximately €16 billion in assets under management, including €10 billion from third parties, Eurazeo is a leading global investment company with offices in Paris and Luxembourg, New York, Shanghai and Sao Paulo. Its purpose and mission is to identify, accelerate and enhance the transformation potential of the companies in which it invests. The firm covers most private equity segments through its five investment divisions – Eurazeo Capital, Eurazeo Croissance, Eurazeo PME, Eurazeo Patrimoine and Eurazeo Brands – and through three Idinvest business divisions: Venture Capital, Private Debt and Dedicated Portfolio & Funds. Its solid institutional and family shareholder base, robust financial structure free of structural debt, and flexible investment horizon enable Eurazeo to support its companies over the long term. As a global long-term shareholder, the firm offers deep sector expertise, a gateway to global markets, and a stable foothold for transformational growth to the companies it supports.

Eurazeo is listed on Euronext Paris.

ISIN: FR0000121121 – Bloomberg: RF FP – Reuters: EURA.PA

About ONE Luxury Group

ONE Luxury Group is an investment fund focused on disruptive consumer and retail luxury businesses that combine both traditional and new communication and retail distribution models. ONE Luxury’s mission is to help build luxury brands that embrace new models of communication and customer acquisition whilst combining the best of traditional and online retail.