Palamon Buys Into DS Produkte

Palamon Capital Partners has acquired a “significant” stake in DS Produkte, a German provider of multi-channel consumer goods supplier. No financial terms were disclosed.

PRESS RELEASE

Palamon Capital Partners (‘Palamon’), one of Europe’s leading mid market private equity firms, has agreed to invest in DS Produkte, one of Germany’s leading suppliers of innovative fast moving consumer products.

Founded in 1975, DS Produkte has grown to become a major consumer goods supplier in the €90 billion German non-food market.  DS Produkte’s high quality and innovative product range is marketed to consumers through various media channels such as TV, internet or catalogues.  A significant volume is distributed through a large number of mail-order and retail companies.  Located in Stapelfield, close to Hamburg, and with a logistics centre in Gallin, the Company employs 250 people.

The terms of the transaction were not disclosed, although it involved Palamon taking a significant shareholding in the Company and making an injection of capital to fund its growth plan.  DS Produkte will continue to be run by its current co-owner and CEO, Ralf Dümmel, and CFO, Andreas Schneider.  Founder and co-owner Dieter Schwarz, will continue to serve as Chairman of the Company.

Louis Elson, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Palamon Capital Partners, said: “We are delighted to be investing in DS Produkte, a high growth business that is driven by an outstanding management team”.  Holger Kleingarn, Partner at Palamon Capital Partners, commented: “We are very excited by the continued growth opportunities that exist in this market segment and together with the products offerings and its current market position, DS Produkte is ideally placed to expand further.”

Commenting on the transaction, Dieter Schwarz, DS Produkte’s Founder, co-owner and Chairman, said: “This partnership with Palamon marks a new phase in our development.  As experienced pan-European growth investors, I am confident that their strategic and financial support can enable us to significantly add scale to our business.”  Ralf Dümmel, CEO and co-owner of DS Produkte, added: “In the last few years, we have built a very strong market position and are regarded as a trusted and reliable partner to customers and suppliers. Going forward, we aim to roll-out our products and capture a significantly higher share of our target markets.”

Palamon’s investment in DS Produkte marks the tenth investment in its second fund, Palamon European Equity II, L.P., which was raised in 2006 and has commitments of €670 million.  Palamon has a diverse range of investments across Europe which include Dress-for-Less, one of Europe’s largest on-line fashion retailers, Loyalty Partner, the operator of Germany’s largest loyalty card PAYBACK and Retail Decisions, a global payment card business.