Verdane invests in MM Sports

The investment was made through the GP's Verdane Capital VIII fund, and included a SEK 20m investment in primary shares of MM Sports, as well as a larger investment in secondary shares, making Verdane a significant minority owner.

Staffan Mörndal, partner in Verdane's Stockholm team, will join the company's board as part of the deal.

Mörndal told unquote" the GP had been attracted to the deal by the general development of the market space for health products, and had been following the niche sector for quite some time without finding the right company to invest in.

The firm had been approached by the founder and CEO (and sole owner) of MM Sports, Olle Sparringsjö, to help grow his business. Sparringsjö valued Verdane's experience with supporting e-commerce businesses higher than the new capital.

The GP's track record includes 20 e-commerce companies in the Nordic region, including Bythjul, Boozt and WhiteAway.

Following the investment, Verdane aims to grow the nutrition supplement and sportswear retailer's presence from purely Swedish to Nordic, and then possibly further.

The growth strategy also includes a number of projects to improve the website, marketing and logistics.

Verdane does not expect to deviate significantly from MM Sports' current business where supplements are the driver.

All of the capital in the investment was provided by Verdane, marking the GP's first venture into a sector that could turn out to be very lucrative in the coming years.

Company
Founded by Olle Sparringsjö in 2002, MM Sports is a major Nordic retailer of nutrition supplements that also sells sportswear under its own brand.

The Gothenburg-based company is mainly online, but also has six physical locations in Sweden.

Under Sparringsjö's management, MM Sports has grown its yearly revenues to more than SEK 200m, without investment from external parties.

People
Staffan Mörndal is a partner with Verdane, while Olle Sparringsjö is the founder, CEO and majority shareholder of MM Sports.

Advisers
Equity – Valentum (Corporate finance); Maqs (Legal).
Vendor – Andulf Advokat (Legal); Grant Thornton (Legal).

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Nordics
• Expansion
• Sweden
• Verdane Capital Partners