Polaris acquires Louis Poulsen Lighting

Polaris will wholly acquire the business for an undisclosed sum with senior debt provided by a Danish bank. The management team will remain unchanged following the deal, which saw Polaris acquire Louis Poulsen for a second time.

Polaris and merchants Hanssen and Droob first acquired and delisted Louis Poulsen, then listed on the Copenhagen exchange, in a joint venture in October 1999.

In August 2005, Polaris and HD Invest sold the shares in electrical wholesaler Louis Poulsen El-Teknik – part of the Louis Poulsen Group – to Lemvigh-Müller Holding, but retained the Louis Poulsen Lighting division. More than DKK 100m was invested in a new factory for Louis Poulsen Lighting in Vejen, Denmark, and Peter Thorsen was appointed CEO.

Polaris then sold a 92.5% stake in the company in a trade sale to listed Italian lighting group Targetti Sankey Group, the company's current owner, for DKK 250m in June 2007. The deal generated a 7x return for the vendors.

Polaris plans to expand sales, marketing, new product development and the company's presence within several markets, particularly the UK.

Company
Founded in 1894, Louis Poulsen manufactures and sells lighting fixtures to private consumers and professionals. It recorded a turnover of DKK 675m in 2013, nearly 70% of which came from international sales.

Headquartered in Copenhagen, Louis Poulsen employs 450 people, including 300 based in Denmark. The company's main markets are Scandinavia, Germany, the US and Japan.

People
Allan Bach Pedersen is a partner at Polaris. Søren Schøllhammer is vice president at Louis Poulsen.

Advisers
Lazard (Corporate finance); MWB Law (Legal).

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