Denmark

FSN CAPITAL III EXITS LAGKAGEHUSET

lag FSN Capital III has signed an agreement to sell its majority shareholding in Lagkagehuset.

Lagkagehuset is the leading premium bakery chain with 66 stores in Denmark and a presence in the UK. The company operates a premium concept focusing on high-quality artisanal breads, cakes and pastries as well as other food, teas and coffee. Its attractive quality products and proven concept is based on a business model with own bakery production and a scalable roll-out strategy. The stores in the UK under the “Ole & Steen” brand are the first phase of an international roll out, proving that the business model is highly scalable.

oleand steen

After several years of significant growth in the Danish market, and a recent launch in London, Lagkagehuset is now well positioned for further internationalisation with Nordic Capital as the new owner of the company. Nordic Capital will acquire the entire FSN Capital’s majority shareholding in Lagkagehuset A/S. At the same time, Nordic Capital will also acquire the two founders, Ole Kristoffersen’s and Steen Skallebæk’s shares in Lagkagehuset.

“Nordic Capital has in recent years made several investments in the food industry and sees great potential in supporting Lagkagehuset in its further expansion. Lagkagehuset has a great customer-oriented concept that delivers quality products every day and has created strong preferences for consumers in Denmark. Following a recent launch in London, the next step is now to evaluate and develop a plan for further internationalisation where we will level further with Nordic Capitals industry expertise within the retail sector. Nordic Capital is looking forward to support Lagkagehuset’s continued development and expansion in partnership with the the company’s strong management team,” says Michael Haaning, Partner at NC Advisory A/S, advisor to the Nordic Capital Funds.

“We started with Ole and Steen and two stores. Today, eight years later, there are 68 stores in Denmark and two in London. Lagkagehuset is above all a fantastic company with a unique culture and quality products. The two stores in London are the first expansion beyond Denmark’s borders. There will be 200 employees in London before this year’s end, so it’s gone far beyond our expectations. Against this background, I can proudly look back on our ownership period,” says Thomas Broe-Andersen, Partner at FSN Capital, advisor to the FSN Capital Funds.

“We have had a really great cooperation with our owners FSN. We are looking forward to the new ownership and we are exited to have found a strong partner in Nordic Capital with both the experience, industry knowledge and capital to support us in our continued growth journey to bring Lagkagehuset to the rest of the world. We have amazing employees and products and we expect continued high growth in the coming years”, says Jesper Friis, CEO of Lagkagehuset

Lagkagehuset has over the last couple of years professionalised the fresh bakery industry and has taken its concept international as a response to the increasing public focus on healthy quality food products. The Lagkagehuset chain has a high degree of flexibility of concept, ranging from large traditional bakery to smaller urban food-to-go outlets. Lagkagehuset’s business model which enables high quality at scale, has along with its strong brand and modern retail concept, been highly successful in the Danish market where the company now has 68 stores. The company reported revenues of DKK 665 million in 2016 and a total of 1,800 employees. The company grew by 20 per cent in 2016.

The parties have agreed not to disclose the financial terms of the transaction.

The investment is subject to approval by the relevant authorities.

FSN CAPITAL PARTNERS CLOSES NEW SEK 9.62 BILLION (€1.0 BILLION) NORDIC MID-MARKET BUYOUT FUND

FSN Capital Partners (“FSN”), a pan-Nordic mid-market private equity advisor, announces the final closing of FSN Capital V, which was oversubscibed at its hard cap. The Fund received strong support from existing and new investors, with total commitments of SEK 9.62bn (€1.0 billion).

fsn-logo_png FSN Capital V held its final close on December 16th at its hard cap of SEK 9.62 billion (€1.0 billion), exceeding the SEK 8.5 billion (€870 million) target. The prior fund advised by FSN, FSN Capital IV, closed in 2013 at SEK 5.42 billion (€624 million).

The Fund’s investors comprise a well-diversified group including public and private pension funds, endowments, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, government agencies, asset managers, banks and funds of funds. FSN has also significantly broadened its international investor base, with new LPs secured from Asia, the Middle East and the United States. 29% of the total capital raised for FSN Capital V came from LPs based in North America, 13% from Asia and the Middle East, and 34% from Europe excluding the Nordic region. The Fund also attracted strong support from the Nordic LP community, with leading LPs from all four Nordic markets accounting for the remaining capital raised.

“We are delighted with the strong support we have received from existing LPs and are privileged to welcome a number of leading, blue chip investors from around the globe as new limited partners”, said Frode Strand-Nielsen, Managing Partner of FSN.

FSN Capital V will continue FSN’s proven investment strategy of targeting control buyout investments of Nordic mid-sized growth-oriented companies operating in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland where FSN believes it can generate long-term alpha returns for the investors. It will target companies with enterprise values typically between SEK 500 million and SEK 3 billion (approximately €50 million to €300 million) and operating in a broad range of industries and markets.

FSN will continue its strong focus on integrating sustainable and responsible investment practices into the investments.

“FSN Capital V is positioned in an attractive segment of the market as one of the largest middle-market focused funds in the Nordic region” said Peter Möller, Partner of FSN. Thomas Broe-Andersen, Partner of FSN, added “we continue to see a large number of attractive investment opportunities and are confident of delivering strong returns to the investors.”

CAPITON EXITS FLEXIBLE PACKAGING BUSINESS SCHUR FLEXIBLES TO LINDSAY GOLDBERG AND MANAGEMENT

The Schur Flexibles Group, headquartered in Baden, Austria is a European market leader in the flexible packaging industry. The company was created over the past five years by capiton and the CEO and co-owner Jakob A. Mosser, in the context of a buy-and-build concept.

schur-flex

Today, the group consists of twelve companies with eleven production sites in Germany, Finland, Denmark, Holland, Poland, Slovakia and Greece. In 2015, the group generated sales of almost € 370 million and employed more than 1100 staff.

The product portfol schur-pictures io of the company consists of specialized high value added flexible packaging solutions for the food, tobacco and pharmaceutical markets. The company also covers the entire value chain of the packaging industry, from raw material sourcing to extrusion, printing, lamination and converting.

capiton acquired the first company of the group, CFS Dixie GmbH, in December 2011. The nucleus of the group was then purchased in early 2012 with the take-over of the Schur Flexibles Division (four companies) from Schur International (Denmark). Five further businesses were acquired until the end of 2014 to create the Flexibles business that exists today. In 2014 PS Polymer Sourcing, Warburg Germany was founded as an additional separate business unit.

As part of the share sale signed now, the shareholders of Schur Flexibles have sold their shareholdings to Lindsay Goldberg, represented in Europe by Lindsay Goldberg Vogel, and the management team. The new owners intend to continue the successful buy and build concept through the acquisition of further target companies, some of which have already been identified.