NEWS /
 

> designcapital mission statement
In a sizeable and growing market, designcapital strategic objective is to become a major pan European design focused investment company.
To this extent, designcapital will strive to identify, acquire, nurture and grow to global maturity, those companies and brands that, in the next years, will combine creativity and technological innovation to create and to build the design brands of the future, with a focus on:
1.   distribution and multi-brand retailing of high-end/luxury design furniture and designed-enabled products;
2.   editing and publishing of high-end luxery design furniture and designed-enabled products;
3.   creation and advisory services related to 1) and 2), and participating to the generation of sales, margins and profitability of 1) and 2): product and furniture design, interior architecture and office design, ….

> investment focus

Aspirational high-end/luxury design furniture brands and retail concepts, i.e. brands and concepts responding to the same customer’s inner aspirations as design and luxury:
- retail of high-end/luxury contemporary/modern/design furniture and design-enabled products and appliances;
- editing and publishing of high-end/luxury contemporary/modern/design furniture and design-enabled products and appliances.

> investment targets

All development stages except start-up, with a view to accelerate the growth of businesses and to breed concepts and products that may be within the core of tomorrow’s larger high-end/luxury furniture design industry:

- differentiated concepts or brands, recognisable by the final customers (modernity and innovation, image of tomorrow’s lifestyle, perceivable quality and status image);
- high growth potential;
- marketable brand name, offering a promising outlook for internationalisation and product diversification.

Majority investments and controlling stakes with the objective of supporting the development of the portfolio companies through build-up and further capital increases, and to create a portfolio of strategically integrated companies.

> privileged transactions

Due to the characteristics of its investment universe, designcapital investment strategy will be particularly hands-on and will mainly include a number of small sized transactions (aggregation and build-up).

Such transactions are not likely to be highly sophisticated, and will mostly take the form of:

. classic buy-out and LBO transactions;
. growth and development capital transactions;
. restructurings, turnarounds, or “special situations” transactions.

 

> Our immediate universe of investments, acquisitions, aggregations and build-ups, is composed of more than 200 brand editors and producers of high-end/luxury, contemporary/modern/design, furniture.
To these editors and producers of high-end/luxury furniture, of contemporary/modern/design style, may not only be aggregated dozens of brand editors and producers of lighting appliances and other accessories, but also several producers of kitchen and bath design furniture.
The European markets will be our first primary sourcing areas for the business opportunities we intend to focus on, given that these are highly underorganized, mostly composed of undercapitalised private or family owned businesses unable to reach scale. Moreover, Europe is where there is and will be significant demand in the future.

Nevertheless, this European bias will not prevent us to follow an active and opportunistic investment strategy in non-european markets, most particularly on the US and the Asian markets, where we have also identified prospective investments and acquisitions targets.

 
> Our company will be developped as an evergreen, and growing, permanent capital company, which overall investment strategy articulates three main medium-term objectives:

» retail

Creation of a pan-european multi-brand retailing chain of high-end/luxury, contemporary/modern/design, furniture, encompassing an international network of 40 to 50 fully owned shops, along with a significant network of affiliated shops, all carrying the same flag name, with several bridge-head units located on selected emerging markets (Russia, Dubaï region, India and China).

This retail platform will be created overtime, through a series of acquisitions of both small independent retail shops and larger wholesellers.

» edition & brands

Creation of a porfolio of brand editors and producers of high-end/luxury, contemporary/modern/design, furniture, already well-known on their national markets and possibly with an international exposure.
The structuring of this portfolio of brand editors and producers will answer a rationale of market segmentation, brand identities and market positionning, and, above all, of efficient economies of scale. First investment and acquisition targets are likely to be located in France, the Benelux and the northern European countries, and in Spain.

» creation & advisory

Minority stake in an architect-designer firm of international reach, to support its corporate development, and to cross-fertilise our investments in retail and editing/publishing.

 

> The Company has been established with the objective of becoming a major pan-European design-focused investment company. The Directors intend that the Company will make investments in luxury, contemporary design orientated companies with a particular focus on manufacturers and retailers of luxury furniture and design-enabled products and appliances. In addition, the Directors intend that the Company will invest in companies providing advisory services in the fields of architecture and design.

The Company will focus primarily on investment and acquisition opportunities within the European Union and the United States as well as in selected emerging markets. The Directors intend that the Company will make investments in target businesses at all development stages save for start-up businesses.
The Directors intend that the Company will make direct investments in and directly manage its investments in design related companies and projects, as well as making investments in such companies and projects through various investment vehicles.

The Directors intend that the Company’s interest in a proposed investment may range from a minority position to 100 per cent. ownership. These proposed investments may be made through a direct interest in a design company or project, an indirect interest through a partnership, joint venture or through quoted or unquoted companies.
The Directors intend on identifying and investing in investment opportunities which they believe show excellent growth potential on a stand-alone basis and which would add value to the Company either through the expertise of the Company’s personnel or through ongoing funding.
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