Carlyle Group Buys 85% of Toy Chain

The Carlyle Group says it will buy an 85% stake in Brazil toy store chain Ri Happy Brinquedos, with plans to pour 200 million reais ($117 million) into the business in the next three years, Reuters reported. Terms of the deal were not released. Ri Happy was founded in 1988 and has 114 stores and 2,300 employees across Brazil, Reuters wrote.

(Reuters) – International private equity firm Carlyle Group said on Friday that it would buy an 85 percent stake in leading Brazil toy store chain Ri Happy Brinquedos, with plans to pour 200 million reais ($117 million) into the business in the next three years.

Carlyle did not disclose how much it had agreed to pay for Ri Happy. The firm’s Carlyle South America Buyout Partners fund, worth $1 billion, will provide the cash for the purchase.

Ri Happy was founded in 1988 and has 114 stores and 2,300 employees across Brazil.

“This is a segment with significant growth potential in Brazil,” said Juan Carlos Felix, Carlyle’s managing director in the South American country.

Héctor Núñez, who ran Wal-Mart Stores Inc’s operations in Brazil from 2006 to 2010, will be the chief executive officer of Ri Happy.

One of Ri Happy’s founders, Ricardo Sayon, will have a seat on the board of directors alongside Carlyle executives. Sayon said the takeover was important to ensure the company continued to grow.

Carlyle’s other assets in Brazil include tour operator CVC, health insurance broker and administrator Qualicorp, and underwear manufacturer and retailer Scalina. The group says it had $147 billion in assets at the end of 2011.