Lion secures €900m amend-and-extend for HEMA

The refinancing comes three years after Lion announced that it was looking to sell the general retailer. In September 2010, the private equity house brought in Citigroup and RBS to run a sale process.

HEMA was taken off the block in June 2011 after talks with several potential bidders including CVC Capital Partners and BC Partners failed to produce high enough bids. It was understood that Lion had been in extended talks with larger rival group Royal Ahold due to natural synergies between the two retailers.

Previous funding
Lion acquired HEMA from Maxeda in June 2007 for €1.1bn.

Company
Amsterdam-headquartered HEMA was established as a department store chain in 1926. The company operates a network of more than 600 stores in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and France, and also sells products online.

HEMA supplies own-brand products across 14 categories including apparel, home, personal care and food products. The company employs more than 5,600 people and generated sales in excess of €1.2bn in 2012.

People
Lyndon Lea is the founding partner of Lion Capital.

Advisers
Equity – Tomorrow Partners, Jonathan Rowland, Neil Thomson (Debt).

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

• Topics
• Portfolio management
• Benelux
• Consumer
• Lion Capital
• Netherlands