Ardian sells its minority stake in Berlin Brands Group, a global e-commerce company, to Bain Capital

Berlin / Frankfurt am Main, September 1, 2021 – Ardian, a world leading private investment house, has signed an agreement with Bain Capital to sell its c.40-per cent minority stake in Berlin Brands Group (“BBG”), a global e-commerce company based in Berlin. Both parties have agreed not to disclose financial details of the transaction, which is still subject to the approval of the relevant regulatory authorities. Peter Chaljawski, the founder, CEO and majority shareholder, will continue to manage the company as the majority shareholder.

Berlin Brands Group is a global e-commerce company and a pioneer in direct brand marketing to end consumers (direct-to-consumer). The multi-brand company currently sells its 34 brands and 3,700 products via 100 online channels in 28 countries. The brands encompass the household appliances, consumer electronics, gardening and fitness equipment segments, and include Klarstein (klarstein.de), auna (auna.de), blumfeldt (blumfeldt.de) and Capital Sports (capitalsports.de). The company, which has been profitable since inception, currently has more than 900 employees across five countries and generated a turnover of EUR 334 million in 2020. Since Ardian became a shareholder in 2015, turnover has increased approximately fivefold, with the company’s number of employees having tripled. Through its sales channels in more than 20 European countries, the USA, China and Turkey, BBG offers its brands to more than 1.5 billion active customers globally. The company’s brand portfolio is represented on all major e-commerce platforms and is one of the world's leading marketplace sellers on Amazon. To date, BBG generates the majority of its sales through its own brand shops. In December 2020, the company announced a comprehensive M&A strategy focussed on acquiring, integrating and scaling e-commerce brands across its platform.

Peter Chaljawski, founder and CEO of BBG, said: “As a pioneer in the direct-to-consumer business, we create, develop, buy and scale brands worldwide. With the support of Ardian, we have expanded our position worldwide as a trendsetting and agile multi-brand company. Our formula for success is to optimally combine in-depth knowledge in e-commerce with innovative brand building in order to offer our customers vibrant and attractive product worlds at an excellent price-performance ratio. Ardian has not only supported us with financial resources but has played an important role as an entrepreneurial partner and with its network in our successful internationalization, the creation of our own logistics and the development of an M&A strategy.”

Marc Abadir, Managing Director within the Ardian Expansion team in Germany, added: „BBG's management and employees have an outstanding instinct for the trends of the future in the consumer sector and build them at an early stage with brands and products that convince consumers and testers alike. As a platform for well-known e-commerce brands, BBG has also clearly demonstrated its ability to acquire and integrate new brands. As a result, the company was able to increase its sales approximately fivefold during the period of our commitment. We are proud to have accompanied BBG on this path and have enjoyed the very strong partnership with Peter Chaljawski and his team.“