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 Verdane
Verdane is a specialist growth equity investment firm that partners with ambitious Northern European tech-enabled businesses to help them reach the next stage of international growth. Verdane pioneered portfolio acquisitions in Northern Europe in 2003, and announced a complementary fund strategy entirely dedicated to direct investments in 2018. Verdane’s eight funds hold €2.1bn in total commitments and have made over 120 investments into category leaders in digital consumer, energy & resource efficiency and software businesses. Verdane’s team of 62, based in Berlin, Copenhagen, Helsinki, London, Oslo and Stockholm, is dedicated to being the preferred growth partner to tech-enabled businesses in Northern Europe. www.verdane.com
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.
Press contacts
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
