Nord Holding-backed Ruf Group buys Bruno

Ronald Grott, an investment committee member in the direct investments division at Nord Holding, told Unquote that the deal was sourced on a proprietary basis without an M&A adviser. The GP identified 10 market opportunities and held talks with four of them, he added.

The acquisition was financed by Ruf; the GP did not provide any additional equity, Grott told Unquote. Ruf has bought 100% of the shares in Bruno and the acquisition was structured via a holding company, Grott added.

Felix Baer, managing director at Bruno, will join Ruf's board. Bruno's management team will remain in place. The GP said in a statement that the acquisition will assist Ruf's digitalisation.

Nord Holding bought a stake in Ruf in September 2016, investing directly from its balance sheet. Grott told Unquote that the GP believes the bed retailer can be developed into a market leader and will assist with its organic growth, as well as the acquisition of complementary add-on companies.

Company
Bruno designs sofa beds and box-spring beds, and also sells bed sheets, duvets, mattresses and metal bed frames via its online platform. It is based in Berlin and was founded by Felix Baer and Andreas Bauer in 2014. The company reports revenues of more than €10m. It employs 14 staff, according to LinkedIn.

People
Bruno – Felix Baer (managing director).
Nord Holding – Ronald Grott (investment committee member, direct investments).

Advisers
Acquirer – CMS (legal); BPG (financial due diligence).

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• Topics
• Portfolio management
• DACH
• Consumer
• Build-up
• Germany
• Nord Holding