CVC acquires Advent's Douglas

The Kreke family, which manages the business, will reinvest for a 15% stake as part of the reported €2.8bn deal.

The sale does not include book retailer Thalia or fashion retailer AppelrathCüpper, which will remain under the ownership of Advent and the Kreke family.

The transaction comes one week after Douglas announced its intention to float. The offering would have raised €70m from the sale of new shares.

Following the secondary buyout, the business will seek to continue the international expansion strategy undertaken during Advent’s tenure.

Advent acquired Douglas via a public tender offer in 2013, in a deal valuing the business at around €1.5bn. At the time, the German retail group operated five divisions, including the Douglas perfumeries.  

The business has since realigned its focus towards its core beauty products, selling off jewellery retailer Christ and acquiring French perfume brand Nocibé from Charterhouse.

CVC has a track record of investing in the cosmetics sector, having previously backed Danish beauty retailer Matas, which listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange in July 2013 with a DKK 4.7bn valuation.

Company
Founded in 1821 and headquartered in Hagen, Douglas is a beauty product retailer with 1,700 stores across 19 countries. The business generates a turnover of €2.5bn with adjusted EBITDA of €256m, with 8% of revenue accounted for by online sales. When Advent acquired the business, the overall group – including Christ, Thalia and AppelrathCüpper – generated a turnover of €3bn with EBITDA below €250m. 

People
Ranjan Sen is general manager at Advent International. Søren Vestergaard-Poulsen is managing partner at CVC. Henning Kreke is CEO of Douglas.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Exits
• Buyouts
• DACH
• Consumer
• Germany
• CVC Capital Partners
• Advent International
• Unq2015July