Van den Bosch Beheer BV – Steinhoff International Holdings NV

Van den Bosch family buys back Habufa shares from Steinhoff International

Orange Corporate Finance advised and assisted the Van den Bosch family in the buy-back of shares in Habufa.

For the Van den Bosch brothers, the buy-back of the shares in Habufa is a good thing: “Certainly now that our children are also active in the company, we intend to build a successful future with 100% ownership”.

Habufa

Habufa started in 1968 as the HApertse BUis-meubelen FAbriek and is a successful producer and wholesaler with a long history in the furniture sector. In 2018, 350 employees are working in the Netherlands and thousands of workers in about forty factories, mainly located in Eastern Europe and Asia. These employees are working on the three furniture concepts and an own line of decorative items. The Henders & Hazel, Xooon and Coco Maison furniture concepts have partners throughout Europe and more than 150 stores in the Benelux, Germany, France, Switzerland and Austria.

Steinhoff

In 1989, South African Steinhoff acquired a 50% stake in Habufa. In 2018, Steinhoff International, the world’s second largest furniture producer after Ikea, got into trouble due to a major accounting fraud scandal. “We quickly took action,” says Paul. “There was one party that wanted to sell and one that wanted to buy, so the deal process didn’t take long. We look back on our collaboration with Steinhoff with great pleasure. A global player like Steinhoff can share a lot of knowledge and expertise and Habufa always had the freedom act at our own discretion. Steinhoff’s international reach has also been beneficial to us, since we were able notice successful companies within the group and integrate the positive aspects into Habufa. An additional advantage was that there were no competing companies within Steinhoff. The focus within the group was primarily on discount, while Habufa operates in the middle segment and a bit above.”