UK Edition
3i buys Danish furniture retailer BoConcept in £166m deal
3i, the London-listed private equity group, has bought BoConcept, the upmarket Scandinavian furniture chain, in a deal worth £166m.
BoConcept, which sells a range of minimalist-style beds, sofas and rugs across its 250 shops, including 13 in the UK, will de-list from the Nasdaq Copenhagen stock exchange under the deal. It first went public in the 1980s.
The high-end retailer, which stocks the interiors department at Harrods, turned over £140m in the 12 months to April 30, having been founded in 1952 by Danish craftsmen Jens Ærthøj Jensen and Tage Mølholm as a furniture factory in Herning.
3i is taking BoConcept private using an investment vehicle, Layout Bidco, which bought the company shares using 3i funds and bank debt. The private equity firm said it hoped to expand the retailer globally, which company delivered a 13pc increase in like-for-like sales in the year to April 30.
BoConcept posted pre-tax profits of £13.7m over the 12-month period, up from a loss of nearly £7m the previous year, as it comes to the end of a cost-cutting drive that involved closing loss-making stores and upgrading its IT systems.
Boris Kawohl, a director at 3i’s Netherlands office, said BoConcept was a “successful international brand with a proven track record in over 60 countries”.
Shares in FTSE 250-listed 3i, which has investments in clothing chain Hobbs and Cross London Trains, trade at £5.38, 12pc higher than at the beginning of the year.