Verdane, the Northern European specialist growth investor, will sell its majority shareholding in Royal Design Group AB to Egmont, a Denmark-based foundation whose e-commerce and media holdings support vulnerable children and young people in Denmark and Norway. Royal Design Group AB is a leading international premium design and home furnishings e-commerce company with clear market leadership in Sweden and strong market positions in the rest of the Nordics.
During Verdane’s ownership period, the company has gone from SEK150m to SEK 1 billion in turnover, acquired industry peer Rum21 and invested heavily in scalable infrastructure and processes to enable continued and scalable growth in the years ahead. The company became cashflow-positive in 2020. The realisation adds a chapter to Egmont’s already successful history of acquiring Verdane companies. Daniel Ahlstrand, Principal and responsible for the investment at Verdane, will remain as a board member throughout 2021 to ensure a smooth ownership transition.
”We at Verdane are proud of our productive collaboration with CEO Magnus Pettersson and the team at Royal Design Group, where we have been able to harness Verdane’s experience from over 30 previous e-commerce investments.
Together, we have gone from SEK 150 million to almost SEK 1 billion in turnover, established Royal Design Group as Sweden’s undisputed #1 online vendor in the premium home and interiors category and created a leading position on the remaining Nordic markets with a clear growth plan outside the Nordics. We are pleased to pass the baton to the Egmont team, which has successfully continued the development of a number of former Verdane companies,” says Daniel Ahlstrand, Principal, Verdane.
“On behalf of the Royal Design team, I want to extend my thanks to the Verdane team for their contributions to our success. It’s been great working with an investor with a deep understanding of e-commerce and a genuine knowledge of our products and the industry we operate in. We look forward to continuing our exciting growth journey together with Egmont,” says Magnus Pettersson, CEO at Royal Design Group AB.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approval by the Swedish and Norwegian competition authorities. The parties have agreed not to disclose the terms of the transaction.
About Royal Design Group AB
Royal Design Group is the leading e-commerce player of the Nordic countries within design, furniture, home, and interior – with the ambition to offer the world’s best brands for your home at the right price and to be the preferred choice of the consumers. Since the establishment in 1999, where the company focused on e-commerce with Swedish high-end brands for the American market, it has grown remarkably. Today, the company is represented online in 14 different geographical markets under the brands RoyalDesign and Rum21.
About Egmont Publishing
Egmont Publishing is a market-leading publisher with a large range of home and interior magazines in the Nordic countries. Beside a portfolio of e-commerce companies, Egmont Publishing also owns a series of agencies in the Nordic countries, e.g., KAN and Ingager in Sweden, S360 in Denmark, and Sempro in Norway. Egmont Publishing is a part of the Nordic media group Egmont that creates strong content within movies, television, streaming, computer games, education, magazines, and books. Egmont is behind companies such as Nordisk Film, TV 2 in Norway, and Egmont Books. Egmont is a foundation, and the profit goes to development of the media company and support of children and young people.
About Verdane
Verdane is a specialist growth investment firm that partners with tech-enabled and sustainable European businesses. Verdane can invest as a minority or majority investor, either in single companies or through portfolios of companies, and looks to deploy inside two core growth themes; digitalisation and decarbonisation.
Verdane funds hold over €6 billion in total commitments and have made over 400 investments in fast-growing businesses since 2003. Verdane’s team of over 140 investment professionals and operating experts, based out of Berlin, Munich, Copenhagen, Helsinki, London, Oslo, and Stockholm, is dedicated to being the preferred growth partner to tech-enabled and sustainable businesses in Europe.
Verdane is also a certified B Corporation, the most ambitious sustainability accreditation globally. The firm only backs businesses that pass its 2040 test, which indicates whether the company can thrive in a more sustainable future economy.
Verdane is partly owned by the Verdane Foundation, which is focused on two areas: climate change and more equitable and inclusive local communities.
More info: www.verdane.com
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Press Contact
Daniel Ahlstrand
Principal, Verdane
+46 70 538 35 05
daniel.ahlstrand@verdane.com
Magnus Pettersson
CEO, Royal Design Group AB
+46 70 146 39 48
magnus.petterson@royaldesign.com
Jesper Eising
Head of Press, Egmont
+45 29603019
jesper.eising@egmont.com
