
Verdane’s Babyshop acquires AlexandAlexa from MMC
Direct secondaries investor Verdane Capital has provided financing to support portfolio company Babyshop in its acquisition of fellow children’s clothes retailer AlexandAlexa from MMC Ventures.
Following the deal, the two companies will be merged to form The Luxury Kids Group, which the GP expects to become four times as large as its closest European competitor.
Babyshop raised capital for the acquisition through a share issue backed by Verdane, which has owned the company through its Verdan Capital VII fund since 2010.
Verdane bought Babyshop in 2010 in a deal for a portfolio of six internet companies from Aggregate Media, in which the GP took stakes in the businesses of between 10-20%.
Previous funding
AlexandAlexa was backed by MMC and Howzat Partners in December 2010, when the two acquired a minority stake for a £1.5m investment.
MMC's acquisition was made through its first Growth Generation Fund.
Company
Founded in London in 2007, AlexandAlexa is an online clothes shop selling high-end apparel for children, including brands such as Burberry, Bugaboo and Fendi. The company also sells sportswear, toys and gifts.
Stockholm-based Babyshop is a Swedish online retailer of luxury children's clothes, founded in 2006. The business sells its products in 50 countries and had revenues of around SEK 120m last year.
People
Daniel Ahlstrand is a senior associate at Verdane. Magnus Fredin is the CEO of Babyshop and Marcus Tagesson is a co-founder. Alex Theophanous and Alexa Till are the founders of AlexandAlexa.
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