Acquirer Spring 2013 - Livingstone Partners

SECTOR: CONSUMERGalloping aheadFinding the right buyer for equestrian clothing and accessorieswholesaler Hypo Wholesale was only part of the brief forLivingstone, who also had to oversee a carve-out from theDutch company’s holding groupWhen Livingstone Partners was appointedto assess strategic options for Dutchequestrian wholesaler Hypo Groep atthe beginning of 2012, founder SteefDuijndam was considering a number of options.Having developed some of Europe’s strongestbrands in the equestrian equipment and fashionsectors, he was keen to diversify risk by sellingsome or all of the businesses, but had not yetdecided what tack to take.A year later, Livingstone had not only advisedon the sale of a majority stake of the wholesalebusiness, but also project-managed a complexcarve-out from Duijndam’s holding company.Duijndam, who comes from a family that ownssome of Holland’s leading stables, launched hisequestrian products retail business, Hypo Groep,in 1985, and built it steadily through both organicgrowth and bolt-on acquisitions. Most recently,the group had taken over the activities ofNederinum Holland/Imperial Riding, one ofthe oldest Dutch wholesalers of hardware forequestrian sport. The group’s wholesale division,which sells equestrian fashion products andaccessories to 2,000 equestrian retailers andinternet and mail order companies throughoutEurope, also had the potential to expand intomainstream fashion markets.With this in mind, Duijndam had reached apoint at which he had to decide on the best wayfor the Hypo Group of Companies to pursue thisopportunity and the others open to it. He askedLivingstone to consider the strategic options thatwere open to the group, and then to find aninvestor with the right level of professionalinsight – as well as the financial backing – to turnHypo Wholesale from a niche entrepreneurialbusiness into a branded fashion company.16 // WWW.LIVINGSTONEPARTNERS.COM // SPRING 2013