General Atlantic backs Joe & The Juice

Mikkel Stern-Peltz
12 October 2016

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Growth investor General Atlantic has taken a minority stake in Danish juice and coffee chain Joe & The Juice, providing a partial exit for existing backer Valedo Partners.

The incumbent Swedish GP is understood to have made between 20-25x on its initial investment in Joe & The Juice. Valedo will remain the largest minority shareholder in the company following General Atlantic's investment, a spokesperson for the GP told unquote", though she declined to comment on returns figures.

Following its investment, General Atlantic will become the second largest shareholder after Valedo, with founder and CEO Kaspar Basse also retaining a minority stake. The deal is reported to value Joe & The Juice in the region of DKK 1.5bn.

With General Atlantic on board, the company plans to grow the company outside Europe, with the main focus being breaking into the US and the UK. According to sources familiar with the matter, Joe & The Juice's attraction was a strong case for growth in new markets, as well as substantial potential profit margin improvements. In 2015, the company generated DKK 420m in revenue and DKK 75m of EBITDA.

Andrew Crawford, General Atlantic's managing director and global head of the retail and consumer sector team, will join Joe & The Juice's board alongside Melis Kahya, a senior member of the retail and consumer team.

Valedo said existing lender SEB provided a debt package for General Atlantic's investment.

Previous funding
Valedo acquired a majority stake in Joe & The Juice through an MBO in December 2013. Founder Kaspar Basse retained a substantial minority stake in the deal, which was supported with equity from the SEK 2bn, 2011-vintage Valedo Partners Fund II and debt from SEB, in conjunction with a mezzanine package provided by Armada Mezzanine.

Company
Founded in 2002, Joe & The Juice is a Danish chain of cafés serving juice, coffee and sandwiches.

Headquartered in Copenhagen, the company operates 160 shops across Europe, predominantly in the Nordic region and the UK. It has recently established locations in the US and Asia, and expects to grow further in those markets.

The company generated DKK 420m in revenue and DKK 75m of EBITDA for the full year 2015, and employed 700 people, according to publicly available data.

People
Valedo Partners – Nils Forsberg (partner).
Joe & The Juice – Kaspar Basse (founder, CEO).