CVC Capital to buy German perfume and cosmetics retailer Douglas for reported €3 bn
02 Jun 2015
Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners yesterday struck a deal to buy German perfume and cosmetics retailer Douglas Holding AG from peer Advent International and the Kreke family.
Both parties did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, but a person familiar with the matter told Reuters that it was close to €3 billion ($3.3 billion).
The Kreke family, founders of Douglas, would continue to remain a minority shareholder with a 15-per cent stake. The acquisition does not include the book retail unit Thalia and the fashion retailer AppelrathCuepper.
Douglas reported sales of around €1.5 billion and adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of around €180 million in the first half of its 2014/15 fiscal year.
The Kreke family and Advent had acquired the loss-making retailer in 2012 for €1.5 billion ($2 billion). (See: Kreke family, Advent International to buy German retailer Douglas Holding for $2 bn)
Douglas later acquired French perfumery chain Nocibe and sold its 245 'Hussel' confectionery stores.
Douglas had announced an initial public offering last week but dropped the plan after CVC made a revised offer.
"An IPO would have been an interesting option but only the second best for the company," said, Henning Kreke, CEO of Douglas.
Douglas is the leading European specialist retailer in the growing selective beauty market. It has a strong market position with more than 1,700 stores across 19 European countries.
In the past financial year 2013 - 2014, Douglas and its subsidiaries including Nocibé generated pro forma revenues of about €2.5 billion.
Douglas is Europe's largest specialist for quality cosmetics with a continually updated offering of up to 35,000 products in its German online shop as well as related services across the perfumes, personal care, decorative cosmetics and other accessories.
The Hagen, Germany-based company also owns 295 ''Thalia'' book stores, and 13 ''AppelrathCüpper'' fashion stores.