Emeram buys Hussel from Douglas Holding

Douglas and Hussel have been linked since the chocolate business was founded, but it is understood that Advent-owned Douglas is choosing to focus on the Europe-wide expansion of its fragrance chain at the expense of its food division. The group has 1,170 perfume stores across Europe, 495 of which are located in the DACH region. Douglas also recently acquired French perfume chain Nocibé in a deal believed to be valued in the region of €550m.

Capital for the transaction was provided by Emeram Private Equity Fund I and will be used to further finance the company's growth. This will be carried out by renovating existing stores and opening new ones, in both the domestic and foreign markets. The company will also use the fresh capital to continue improvements to its internet and mail order sales channels, after updating its online store in September 2013.

Company
Founded in 1949 in Hagen, Hussel has grown to operating 225 stores across Germany and Austria and 24 branches in Portugal. The company focuses on stores in city locations with high purchasing power. As well as its own Hussel brand, the company sells the products of chosen partners, such as Lindt, Hachez and Niederegger.

Hussel employs more than 1,000 staff and its long-serving senior management team will continue to run the company in conjunction with Emeram. It was CEO Sven Eklöh's intent for Hussel to spin out from Douglas.

People
Sven Eklöh is the CEO of Hussel. Eckhard Cordes is the co-founder of Emeram. Henning Kreke is the CEO of Douglas.

Advisers
Equity – Linklaters (Legal); EY (Financial due diligence); Deloitte (Corporate finance); Leonardo (Corporate finance); Roland Berger Strategy Consultants (Commercial due diligence).

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• DACH
• Consumer
• Germany
• Advent International