Tag Archives: Consumer brands

AURELIUS subsidiary Scholl Footwear sells its Australian distribution business to Global Footcare Group

Aurelius Capital

Munich / Melbourne / Milan, September 21, 2020 – Scholl Footwear, a subsidiary of AURELIUS Equity Opportunities SE & Co. KGaA (ISIN: DE000A0JK2A8), is selling its Australian distribution business to the Global Footcare Group based in Coomera, Queensland, Australia. Global Footcare is a strategic buyer and specializes in the distribution and marketing of comfort footwear. The company will drive sales of Scholl shoes in Australia and New Zealand, via wholesale and specialist channels like pharmacy, health professionals, as well as sports and shoe retail outlets.

The sales transaction is part of Scholl Footwear’s global strategy of leveraging strong regional partners and industry specialists to generate additional growth and further improve earnings through licensing and distribution partnerships.

In Europe, Scholl Footwear operates from its headquarters in Milan, Italy, from which design and collection development, marketing, distribution and licensing activities are managed. Its Asian business is driven via the APAC hub, with the expansion of licensing partnerships playing the leading role.

“Global Footcare is the most capable partner for marketing our products in Australia and New Zealand, especially in view of its already long established partnership as a Scholl Footwear distributor across the medical channel in Australia and New Zealand as well as its local presence and proximity to customers. We’re looking forward to working jointly on future growth,” said Tobias Klaiber, the responsible executive for Scholl Footwear. “We’re considering similar concepts for other markets in the APAC region as well.”

Categories: News

Tags:

Balderton Portfolio company THG goes public on the London Stock Exchange

Balderton

There are few pieces of news so exciting in the technology industry as a new IPO, so we are delighted to congratulate THG on its IPO on the London Stock Exchange.

Matt Moulding first came in to meet our partnership in March of 2010, and we had made our initial Series A investment in THG by April of that year as the company’s first venture capital investor.

We made four further investments in the two year period after April 2010, with the final round in August of 2012, investing £24.3M in total to make Balderton the largest institutional shareholder in THG when it went public.

The London Stock Exchange

THG was an early pioneer in direct to consumer. Since its founding in 2004, THG has grown into a vertically integrated, global e-commerce technology group, and beauty and nutrition brand owner.

The company has enjoyed strong growth over the past decade, today employing more than 7,000 people and posting revenues of £1.14 billion in 2019. The company’s operations now span the entire product and customer journey from product development and manufacturing, to content creation, hosting and digital commerce.

THG’s IPO is the largest tech IPO in the UK in the last 5 years and one of the top 5 UK tech IPOs of the decade. It’s also among the top 15 largest tech IPOs from Europe in the last 10 years.*

We believe this is an incredibly important moment for London and for European tech more broadly.

In the past, many successful European tech companies chose to move their HQs to the US, raise future rounds from US growth investors and then list on Nasdaq or NYSE.

However, the notion that tech companies need to move their headquarters and list outside of Europe to be successful now no longer holds true. THG is a great example of this new trend – the team was born and bred in Manchester, raised initial capital from European sources and then, as the company scaled, directly tapped into a global investor base through a London listing.

Balderton has been represented on THG’s board since 2010, with Managing Partner Bernard Liautaud joining the board in 2017.

Read his perspective on THG, and on the company’s remarkable CEO and Co-Founder Matt Moulding here.

Read the case study from the London Stock Exchange here.

Matt Moulding founded THG in 2004.

*Source: Pitchbook

Categories: News

Tags:

Folmer Equity Fund II invests in Donier Gastronomie Oy

Folmer

Donier Gastronomie Oy strengthens its business by becoming a portfolio company of Folmer Equity Fund II Ky, a fund managed by Folmer Management Oy. The founderof the company, Alexandre Donier, will continue as the Managing Director and shareholder of the company with the aim of building, together with the staff, the country’s leading food wholesaler with a comprehensive offering.

Since 2003, Donier Gastronomie has supplied high-quality ingredientsfrom their European producers to quality-conscious restaurant and retail clients.The company is specialized in the import and wholesale of dairy and poultry products.In addition, it provides a wide range of dry goods, meats and processed meat products. Donier Gastronomie offersits customers a transparent and traceableproduct chain as well as aresponsible service concept that meets the customer’s needs.The company has premises in Helsinki, Tampere andTurku.In the future, Donier Gastronomie, already known as high-qualityand innovative wholesaler,will strive for an even more significant position in the market.The company reported revenue of ca. 8 MEUR for the fiscal year that ended in 2020, and it currently employs 16 people.The owners of Donier Gastronomie Oy will staywiththe company as minority shareholders.

For more information:

Managing Director, entrepreneur AlexandreDonier, Donier Gastronomie Oy, tel.+358 44033 0028, alexandre.donier@doniergastronomie.fi(in English)

Managing Director, Partner Sami Tuominen, Folmer Management Oy, tel.+358 40 708 4905, sami.tuominen@folmer.fi

Donier Gastronomie Oy is a Finnish wholesaler of high-quality food products specializing in the import and wholesale of dairy, meat, seafood and poultryproducts.

www.doniergastronomie.com

Folmer Management Oy is a Finnish private equity company investing in Finnish SMEs. Folmer creates value through active development work.

Folmer provides companies with support and professional experience –a requirement for success.www.folmer.fiFolmer Equity Fund II Ky benefits from the support of the European Union under the Equity Facility for Growth established under Regulation (EU) No 1287/2013 of the European Parliament and the Council establishing a Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and small and medium enterprises (COSME) (2014-2020).Businesses can contact selected financial institutions in their country to access EU financing: www.access2finance.eu.

Categories: News

Tags:

Oakley Capital agrees sale of Casa.it to EQT

Oakley

Oakley Capital (“Oakley”) is pleased to announce that it has reached an agreement to sell its stake in Casa.it (“Casa”), one of the leading players in the online real estate classifieds market in Italy, to the EQT IX fund (“EQT”). Casa is part of Fund III’s investment in the online classifieds group, Casa & atHome.

Oakley originally invested in the business in 2017, as part of the acquisition of a portfolio of classifieds businesses from REA Group, which comprised Casa.it in Italy and atHome.lu in Luxembourg. Under Oakley’s ownership, Casa has significantly expanded its customer base, now servicing over 14,000 real estate agents with over one million property listings on its website.

Luca Rossetto, CEO of Casa, commented:
“This step comes after a 3-year period of significant change at Casa.it. Our technology platform, brand equity, skills and organisation are now positioning Casa.it to be a much stronger player in the Italian market. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the team at Oakley for its support and valuable contribution over this period, which has been key to the development of the company.”

Mediobanca acted as Oakley’s Financial Adviser in connection with this transaction.

We would like to thank Luca Rossetto and his team for their hard work in successfully developing Casa over the past three years, delivering operational improvements and significant customer growth. Casa has many of the traits that Oakley targets in an investment, as a digital platform with a strong position in a structural growth market, and our partnership has continued Oakley’s successful track record in the digital consumer space.
Peter Dubens
Managing Partner, Oakley Capital

Categories: News

Tags:

Sun Capital Partners Affiliate Invests in Mancini’s Sleepworld

Sun Capital

Sun Capital Partners, Inc. (“Sun Capital”), a leading private investment firm focused on investing in market-leading companies, today announced that its affiliate has made an investment in Mancini’s Sleepworld (“Mancini’s” or “the Company”), a mattress retailer serving the Northern California market. Terms of the private transaction were not disclosed.

Founded by the Mancini family in 1969, Mancini’s Sleepworld sells leading brand mattresses and other sleep products such as adjustable bed frames. Randy Mancini, a second-generation owner, has built the successful business to approximately 33 locations throughout the Bay area.

“Mancini’s is in Sun Capital’s sweet spot: a family-owned business in an industry that Sun Capital knows well and where we have had a track record of success,” said Marc Leder, Co-CEO of Sun Capital. “The Company’s success is a testament to Randy Mancini and Marc Fey’s hard work and business acumen, and we appreciate their trust in Sun Capital’s ability to partner with them in growing the business.”

The U.S. bedding industry has grown by approximately 4% annually over the past 20 years and Mancini’s has consistently outperformed this benchmark.

“I have been impressed by Sun Capital’s ability to support the business and its management team to help navigate the current environment, where we are open for business,” said Randy Mancini. “Sun Capital’s focus on supporting sales growth and leveraging its experience and confidence in mattress retailing will be invaluable to the company going forward.”

Sun Capital has extensive experience in the mattress industry through its current investment in Dreams, the U.K.’s leading bed and mattress specialist and previous investments in U.S. mattress retailer Mattress Firm and foam mattress manufacturer, Innocor.

“Sun Capital looks forward to partnering with Marc Fey, who has been promoted to CEO of the company, Randy Mancini, Chairman of the Board, and the rest of the management team, including the impressive sales professionals who do such an excellent job serving Mancini’s customers,” said Matthew Garff, Managing Director at Sun Capital. “We see significant opportunity to benefit from Mancini’s strong reputation to grow sales in-store and via e-commerce as well as to expand Mancini’s geographic footprint.”

About Sun Capital Partners, Inc.

In 2020, Sun Capital Partners, Inc. celebrates 25 years of investing; identifying companies’ untapped potential; and accelerating value through operational excellence. Since 1995, Sun Capital has invested in more than 375 companies worldwide with revenues in excess of $50 billion across a broad range of industries and transaction structures. Over the quarter century, the Firm has built a reputation as a trusted partner recognized for its investment and operational experience, including particular expertise in Business and Consumer Services, Healthcare, Industrial and Consumer sectors. Sun Capital has offices in Boca Raton, Los Angeles and New York, and an affiliate with offices in London.

Contacts

Emily Meringolo
Stanton
646-502-3559
EMeringolo@StantonPRM.com

Categories: News

Tags:

Kimberly-Clark to acquire Softex Indonesia

04 Sep 2020

The $1.2b all-cash transaction has been agreed with a group of shareholders including CVC Capital Partners Asia Pacific IV.

Kimberly-Clark Corporation today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Softex Indonesia, a leader in the fast-growing Indonesian personal care market, in an all-cash transaction for approximately $1.2 billion from a group of shareholders including CVC Capital Partners Asia Pacific IV.

Since 1976, Softex Indonesia has built a successful personal care business with strong market positions and has consistently delivered double-digit growth. The company has excellent manufacturing capabilities and a strong go-to-market distribution network. Softex Indonesia generated net sales of approximately $420 million in 2019.

The transaction is expected to close early in the fourth quarter of 2020 and is subject to customary closing conditions. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Centerview Partners LLC acted as financial advisors, and Gibson Dunn and Crutcher LLP acted as legal counsel to Kimberly-Clark on the transaction.

Categories: News

Tags:

IK Investment Partners acquires Forthglade

ik-investment-partners

IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is pleased to announce that the IK Small Cap II Fund has acquired a majority stake in Forthglade Foods Limited (“Forthglade” or “the Company”) alongside management. This is the first investment by IK’s newly established UK team. Financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

Forthglade is a fast-growing UK based natural pet food brand, producing premium wet and dry dog food and treats. The Company was founded in 1971 and has been led by Gerard Lovell and Chris Brooking since their management buyout in 2011 and subsequent investment by Piper in 2015. IK will acquire a majority stake in Forthglade, with the management team reinvesting alongside.

Based in Okehampton, Devon, Forthglade employs over 130 people in the UK, and distributes across supermarkets, independent specialist pet retailers and online retailers including its own website (www.forthglade.com). Forthglade’s award-winning recipes are valued by customers for their natural ingredients, high meat content, gentle cooking methods, and grain free recipes. Backed by the increasing demand for quality natural pet food and following strategic investments in production processes, marketing, and operations, Forthglade has grown branded sales by over 30% per annum in the last three years and is set to generate over £22 million in sales in the year to September 2020. The company has seen sales accelerate ahead of plan throughout the lockdown period.

The Company recently opened a state-of-the art factory in Devon, which produces the business’ natural wet dog food and has significant additional capacity to support future growth. Forthglade has also successfully launched ranges of cold pressed natural dry food and hand baked dog treats, which are key growth areas for the Company. With IK’s investment, Forthglade plans to increase brand awareness and distribution to drive growth in the UK and overseas. IK will also support Forthglade’s ongoing digital development, as well as further expansion in the business’ product range and growth in its manufacturing capabilities.

The transaction represents the 10th investment from IK’s €550 million Small Cap II Fund. The investment in Forthglade marks a significant milestone for IK’s recently formed UK Small Cap team as they seek to deploy capital in the UK market across IK’s four core sectors: Business Services, Consumer/Food, Engineered Products and Healthcare.

Gerard Lovell, Joint Managing Director of Forthglade commented: “We have thoroughly enjoyed working with Piper whose support and expertise have been invaluable in helping us achieve so much. We are delighted to partner with IK for the next stage of our growth. With their experience across food production and animal health and an established Pan-European footprint, they are well placed to help us grow our offering and enter new markets. We have exciting plans ahead as we look to expand our success in wet into cold pressed and treats, and we see a strong runway for growth ahead.”

Tom Salmon, Partner at IK and advisor to the IK Small Cap II Fund, commented: “Forthglade is an excellent business and a great fit for our investment strategy. We have been very impressed with the achievements of Gerard, Chris and the rest of team in growing the business in recent years, and we are delighted to be backing them in the first investment made by IK’s new UK investment team. The market for natural pet food in the UK is particularly strong and resilient, and we see significant further growth potential for Forthglade in the UK and beyond in the years to come. With our strong track record in supporting growing food production and animal health companies, we look forward to similar success with Forthglade.”

For further questions, please contact:

Maitland/AMO
James McFarlane
Phone: +44 (0) 7584 142 665
jmcfarlane@maitland.co.uk 

IK Investment Partners:
Nastasja Vojvodic
Phone:+44 (0) 20 7304 4300
nastasja.vojvodic@ikinvest.com

About IK Investment Partners

IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is a Pan-European private equity firm focused on investments in the Benelux, DACH, France, Nordics and the UK. Since 1989, IK has raised more than €13 billion of capital and invested in over 130 European companies. IK supports companies with strong underlying potential, partnering with management teams and investors to create robust, well-positioned businesses with excellent long-term prospects. For more information, visit www.ikinvest.com

About IK Small Cap II
The €550 million IK Small Cap II Fund (“IK Small Cap II” or “the Fund”) closed in 2018 and invests in growing businesses across IK’s four core sectors: Business Services, Consumer/Food, Engineered Products and Healthcare. Dedicated investment teams in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Hamburg, London, Paris and Stockholm look to support businesses with an Enterprise Value of between c. €30 million and c. €100 million across the Benelux, DACH, France, Nordics and the UK. For more information, visit www.ikinvest.com/IK-Funds/ik-small-cap-ii-fund

Categories: News

Tags:

Takeover of Wasserij Gaverland by CleanLease

ActiveCapital

Koudekerk aan den Rijn, 1 September 2020 – CleanLease, a Dutch-Belgian group specialised in the rental and maintenance of textiles for health care and holiday parks, has taken over its sector partner Wasserij Gaverland. CleanLease is mainly active in hospitals, residential care centres and holiday parks and has about 20 specialised laundries in Belgium and the Netherlands. After the earlier acquisitions of Malysse in Belgium and Lips+ in the Netherlands in 2019, CleanLease has further developed into a leading player in its sector.

Wasserij Gaverland specialises in the maintenance of personal goods for people staying in residential care centres and psychiatric hospitals. With about 200 employees in one Belgian branch and two branches in the Netherlands, they realise a turnover of 16 million euros.

The healthcare market has changed dramatically in recent years. The supply of hire linen, the processing of service clothing and the maintenance of personal laundry are increasingly linked. CleanLease and Wasserij Gaverland find each other a reliable partner. Gaverland customers will be able to enjoy the absolute expertise and variety of CleanLease in the field of linen for hire, service clothing and personal laundry. CleanLease customers will benefit from Gaverland’s years of experience and “know how” in the field of maintaining personal laundry.

With the acquisition of Wasserij Gaverland, CleanLease confirms its ambition to further specialise in the treatment of personal items.

Together, CleanLease and Gaverland will have better opportunities to structurally invest in modernisation and in the development of innovative products and services for their customers. With a perfect spread of its branches across Belgium and the Netherlands, CleanLease is always close to its customers and can offer a more sustainable and efficient service thanks to this coverage ratio.

About CleanLease CleanLease is a leading company in the rental and management of high quality textiles to companies, institutions and individuals in the Benelux. In a rapidly changing environment CleanLease offers its clients professional and innovative solutions in sustainable textile care, efficient logistics and a total facilities concept. CleanLease’s working method focuses on customer relationship, accessibility, speed and sustainability. For more information: www.cleanlease.com.

About Gaverland For over 40 years, Wasserij Gaverland has been an independent laundry that focuses on various sectors specialising in care and industry. The activities of Gaverland focus on the rental of bath and bed linen, the care of personal laundry and the care of the company clothing of employees. Wasserij Gaverland is originally a Belgian company, with a Dutch owner. From a family business, Gaverland has grown into a leading service provider in healthcare and industry. In 2012, Gaverland opened its second branch in Alphen a/d Rijn and a third laundry in Zierikzee in 2017. Both locations specialise in personal laundry and industrial clothing. For more information: www.wasserijgaverland.be.

Categories: News

Tags:

Melijoe and Gimv join forces with The Babyshop Group to strengthen global leadership in high-end children’s fashion

GIMV

20/08/2020 – 10:55 | Portfolio

Melijoe, a leading multi-brand website for premium children’s fashion, announced today that it has joined forces with The Babyshop Group (BSG), a Swedish high-end children’s fashion group. The merger with BSG fits Melijoe’s ambition to further expand its vision and international presence to become the largest and most professional e-tailer for premium children’s fashion. Gimv and the Melijoe founder remain shareholders and join a group of recognized investors led by Verdane Capital.

Melijoe (Paris, www.melijoe.com ) was founded in 2007 when Parisienne Nathalie Genty, mother of five, launched a website offering some of the world’s most coveted children’s fashion brands.

Founded in 2007 by Nathalie Genty, mother of five with a passion for fashion and the internet, Melijoe (Paris, www.melijoe.com) has in just a few years become the privileged partner of major fashion houses. Today, the company offers more than 150 of the world’s most coveted children’s fashion brands on its website, with highly inspiring and aesthetic choices.

Gimv acquired a stake in Melijoe in November 2014, mainly to support the company in its international development towards market leadership in a global and at the same time fragmented fashion market in digital transformation.

To meet the desire of major brands to collaborate with a limited number of professional partners in a consolidating market, Gimv, as majority shareholder, has fully supported Melijoe’s strategy. A high-end positioning for an international customer base, a high-quality customer experience, an original product range and strategic partnerships with leading brands were key in this, more than a growth strategy based on volume. Thanks to this shared vision, the company was able to record sustainable international growth and is now ready for the next step, through the collaboration with BSG.

The complementarity between BSG and Melijoe is attractive: BSG’s well-developed back office (data management, acquisition marketing, retail logistics, etc.) can be deployed on a broader scale and enables the group to build further on an ambitious plan for the future.

“From my perspective, clothes are a reflection of children’s emerging personalities. When I created Melijoe, I dreamt of an online store where parents could be free to pick and play with fashion for their kids. Joining Babyshop Group will give me the opportunity to further expand my vision of what Melijoe and our new sister sites should be and represent globally.” comments Nathalie Genty, founder and CEO of Melijoe.

“Combining scale and deep sector expertise within an established but fragmented global niche market such as children’s fashion ensures the continued potential of the new Stockholm-London-Paris team. In the new group, operational capabilities and privileged relationships with consumers and A-brands should enable the very best customer experience in the business. “ add Guillaume Bardy, Partner and Gert Kerkstoel, Associate Partner at Gimv.

Through this transaction Melijoe founder Nathalie Genty and Gimv join a solid group of shareholders, with  Swedish Verdane Capital as main investor and benchmark investor for consumer internet companies in Northern Europe.

For more information, we refer to the press release of The Babyshop Group in attachment. No further financial details on this transaction are being published.

Categories: News

Tags:

Vaaka Partners’ successful 10 year journey with Musti Group finalized

Thursday 13.08.2020
Musti Oy

Vaaka Partners has sold the remaining shares in Musti Group in an accelerated bookbuild process together with EQT on August 12th 2020. This brought the successful 10 year journey with the company to an end.

Vaaka invested in Musti ja Mirri in 2010, when the industry was still relatively immature compared to other retail branches. However, the underlying market drivers were very attractive – non-cyclical demand and continuous historical growth based on healthy and sustainable drivers of pet population growth and pets becoming family members. Combining that with very dedicated and motivated company staff and the opportunity to apply best practices from other retail sectors, we eagerly began working and created a bold plan for the company, together with a CEO-to-be Mika Sutinen. Our clear target was to become the leading Nordic omnichannel pet retail chain. Mika then lead the company for the next 7 years and executed this plan very successfully.

One noteworthy milestone was the acquisition of Grizzly Zoo in Sweden in 2012 to bring what we felt was the Nordics leading pet retail concept to Sweden with a kick-start. EQT acquired the majority ownership in the company in the beginning of 2015, and Vaaka remained a ~10% shareholder after that transaction. Musti Group continued to expand and established presence in Norway. In February 2020, Musti Group became a publicly listed company in OMXNasdaq.

Since we acquired the company in 2010, the company has grown from €25 million net sales to €270m and is now the undisputed market leader in the Nordics. It has created new jobs with the employee count growing from 140 to 1100 today. Musti Group is effectively competing against foreign online competitors that generally pose a threat to retail companies and retail jobs. The business is healthy and profitable while growing rapidly and subsequently, the value of the company has grown more than 40-fold over this period. While the last 10 years have been very successful, the story is by no means over and we look forward to hearing great news from the company also going forward. Even if we are not part of the story anymore, we feel pride for being part of the team that got all this going a decade ago.

Categories: News

Tags: