Advent sells final Douglas asset Thalia

The majority was acquired by Herder family, which runs a religion- and spirituality-focused publishing house. Existing shareholder, the Kreke family, will keep a minority stake, while private investor Leif Göritz and Thalia's managing director Michael Busch also acquired minority stakes.

Although the investor declined to disclose financial details, several news outlets reported that the business was sold for a sum in the €100-500m range.

Previous funding
Thalia's sale concludes Advent's exit from multi-sector group Douglas Holding, which it acquired for €1.5bn in 2012 via its holding company Beauty Holding Three.

The Kreke family retained a 20% stake. The first divestment was jewellery division Christ to 3i in November 2014, which saw the UK-based backer invest €214m of equity as part of the deal, giving the business an overall enterprise value of €400m.

In July 2015, CVC Capital Partners acquired German beauty product retailer Douglas from Advent International, putting an end to the company's IPO plans. The Kreke family reinvested for a 15% stake as part of the reported €2.8bn deal. The second last asset, AppelrathCüpper, was bought by private equity firm OpCapita in May 2016.

Company
Thalia is a book store chain with 280 shops in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The business also launched e-reader Tolino in March 2013. The business was established in 1919, has 4,000 employees and is headquartered in Hagen.

People
Advent International – Ranjan Sen (managing partner).
Thalia – Michael Busch (chairman).

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