Smartphoto group acquires TopFanZ

Belgian e-commerce company Smartphoto group NV announced the acquisition of TopFanZ, a European merchandiser for the sports and entertainment sector. TopFanZ, based in Halen, Belgium, offers total solutions in merchandising and brand activation for its customers and their fans, the company says. They offer full-service merchandising partnerships, including marketing support, product procurement, and e-commerce support. In the last financial year, the company achieved a turnover of around 5 million euro. Smartphoto group expects TopFanZ to contribute positively to the group results already in 2024.

Smartphoto group acquires 100% of the shares of Fanshops.be BV, for an initial purchase price of 1.1 million euro in cash. In addition to this initial purchase price, the seller is still entitled to additional consideration, of which the final price will depend on future results.  All employees, as well as the management of TopFanZ, will be part of the smartphoto group. They will continue to operate as a separate division, under their current commercial name TopFanZ.

The move continues Smartphoto’s expansion into the gift sector. In 2021, Smartphoto group entered the gift market with the purchase of Frucon² NV from entrepreneur Benny Sintobin. Frucon², located in Ardooie, Belgium, is one of the online European market leaders in the sale of personalized gift packages with chocolate, beer, fruit or flowers for companies and consumers, with websites such as Gift.be and GiftsforEurope.com. Smartphoto group acquired 100% of the shares of Frucon² NV, for a price of €4.65 million of which €4.15 million in cash and €0.50 million in treasury shares of smartphoto group. In addition, Frucon² offers with Nayan as agency a unique full service for international brands looking for growth.

With this acquisition, smartphoto’s expertise in personalized product production, technology, and marketing, together with naYan’s customer focus and e-commerce know-how, can be leveraged to further growth of TopFanZ by offering even more on-demand products and services to their existing and new customers. The company plans to expand the concept to other European countries.

‘This acquisition is a first step in the expansion of a new B2B segment “smartMerch”, which is complementary to our current smartphoto and naYan segments,” said Stef De corte, CEO smartphoto group. “Our gift factory can now also supply on-demand merchandising products to TopFanZ customers. We are therefore delighted to welcome the team of TopFanZ. This acquisition of a company that, like smartphoto and naYan, is focused on customer satisfaction and growth will take us further to the next level as a group,’ said Stef De corte, CEO smartphoto group.

‘We are very proud to join one of the largest and leading personalised products companies in Europe,” said Jo Appeltans, CEO of TopFanZ. “This partnership allows us to leverage smartphoto’s expertise in production and e-commerce. We remain committed to high quality and service, and look forward to the growth made possible by this takeover. Moreover, the road to growth in Europe is now open for us.”