DN-backed windeln.de reveals plans for €200m IPO

Harriet Bailey
10 April 2015

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DN Capital-backed windeln.de has announced its intention to list on the Prime Standard market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange later this year.

The offering will consist of €100m worth of newly issued shares, as well as the sale of €80m worth of shares by existing shareholders. All existing stakeholders will remain invested in the company. A greenshoe option could also be implemented. This would bring the total offer size to around €200m.

Capital raised in the IPO will be used by windeln.de to target acquisitions of complementary businesses as part of its European expansion strategy. The business will launch its Italian language website in the second quarter of 2015, followed by a Polish version.

The company claims to have had a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 117% from 2012 to 2014, reaching profitability last year. It acquired Swiss competitor Kindertraum.ch at the end of 2013.

DN is the the largest shareholder in the company, with a stake of almost 25%. The GP first invested in the company in September 2010 alongside High-Tech Gründerfonds, which exited its investment in February 2013 as part of the €15m series-C funding round.

Acton Capital Partners holds a stake of almost 20%, having joined the list of investors in May 2011 as part of the series-B round. Goldman Sachs acquired around 13% of the company in January this year, with its Merchant Banking Division participating in a €45m round alongside Deutsche Bank, which took an 11% stake.

MCI Private Ventures and 360 Capital also hold 8.8% and 4.3% stakes, respectively. Similar amounts are held by the two managing directors and founders of windeln.de via their holding companies Gut Vermögensverwaltung and ABrand Management.

Founded by Konstantin Urban and Alexander Brand in 2010, windeln.de is a Munich-based online retailer selling baby and children's products in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The business also exports baby and toddler products to customers in China. It offers products such as baby food, baby monitors and car seats from 1,000 brands on its website. The company has 300 employees and saw revenues of €101m in 2014, with €44m coming from the DACH market and €55.5m from China. It posted an EBITDA of €7.3m for the year.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs International are acting as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for the planned IPO. Berenberg and Commerzbank will act as additional joint bookrunners.