CapMan Leads MBO of Leading Retailer Tiimari

Funds managed by CapMan Capital Management have taken an 85% stake in Tiimari, a leading Finnish retail chain, in a FMk 260 million (ecu 43 million) buyout from Rautakirja Oyj, a quoted Finnish group.

The MBO team is headed by Kari Sulkanen, who founded Tiimari in 1975. Rautakirja bought the chain in 1990. Tiimari sells giftware, stationery and toys through 152 outlets in Finland and Sweden and had net sales of FMk 300 million and profits of FMk 42 million last year.

Three CapMan advised funds invested equity in the deal: Finnventure IV, its most recent domestic buyout fund which closed this spring on FMk 350 million (story, page 12); its predecessor vehicle, Finnventure III; and the FMk 500 million Fenno Program, an international investor club for larger buyouts which is jointly advised by Sitra and CapMan. The Finnmezzanine fund, also managed by CapMan, provided a FMk 20 million mezzanine tranche and Postipankki provided FMk 150 million of senior debt to support the Tiimari MBO.