Gilde Buy Out Partners Acquire Albumprinter From Cimpress
July 26, 2017 – Utrecht (the Netherlands) – Funds advised by Gilde Buy Out Partners (‘Gilde’) today announced the acquisition of Albumprinter Holding B.V. (‘albelli’ or the ‘company’), from its former shareholder Cimpress N.V. The terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.
“Cimpress has benefited from our investment in albelli in multiple ways, including talent acquisition, as well as by strengthening the selection of our photo products for multiple Cimpress businesses,” said Robert Keane, president and chief executive officer of Cimpress. “Though we have decided to sell the business so that we can deploy our capital elsewhere, we believe albelli will be very successful under the partnership and guidance of Gilde.”
albelli is a leading photo products business serving consumers in the Netherlands, Belgium, the U.K., Sweden, Norway, Germany and France via multiple brands including albelli, bonusprint, fotoknudsen and önskefoto. As the new owner Gilde intends to support the strategy that was formulated and implemented by the current management team during the ownership of Cimpress, which is focused on further expanding its leading position in the B2C photo products market with a superior quality, functionality and service offering.
“We believe the sale of albelli to Gilde Buy Out Partners will allow us to prioritize delivering even greater value to our customers, while continuing to grow as a leading B2C online European photo products company,” said Tristan Money, CEO of albelli. “We look back fondly at the six years we were a part of Cimpress, and look forward to our continued relationship as a fulfiller to several Cimpress brands via its mass customization platform. We are very excited about the next chapter for albelli, our team members and our customers.”
Nikolai Pronk, partner at Gilde Buy Out Partners, added: “albelli represents a very attractive opportunity for us to invest in a leading player in the European e-commerce photo products market. The management team has built a very strong online B2C platform with significant further growth potential and we are delighted at the prospect of supporting them in accelerating the execution of the company’s strategy.”
The transaction is expected to close within approximately one month, subject to approval of regulatory authorities and other customary conditions.
albelli
albelli, headquartered in Amsterdam (the Netherlands) and employing c. 290 FTE, produces and supplies photobooks and other related photo print products including wall décor, cards, calendars and prints. The company has strong market positions across the Benelux, Scandinavia as well as other European countries where it has highly recognized local brands (including albelli, fotoknudsen, önskefoto, bonusprint) and supplies high-quality photo products to millions of customers across Europe. albelli operates a vertically integrated business model, combining e-commerce with in-house printing as well as proprietary developed photo creation software. For more information, please visit www.albelli.com or www.bonusprint.co.uk.
Gilde
Gilde Buy Out Partners is a leading European private equity investor in mid-market transactions with operations in the DACH region and the Benelux. Gilde manages funds in excess of EUR 3 billion and has offices in Zurich, Frankfurt, Utrecht and Brussels. Since its inception in 1982, Gilde has invested in over 250 companies across a diverse range of sectors. With EUR 1.1 billion, the current investment fund Gilde Buy-Out Fund V is among the largest dedicated mid-market buy-out investment funds in Europe. Gilde controls majority shareholdings in, amongst others, companies like Oystershell Laboratories, Losberger, amor, t-groep, Royal Reesink, Comcave, Riri, TMC, Royal Ten Cate and Enkco. For more information, please visit www.gilde.com.