Frank­furt am Main / Colo­gne — VR Equi­typ­art­ner sells the e‑commerce sani­tary specia­list MEGABAD to the invest­ment company FSN Capi­tal. Toge­ther with the foun­ding family Stil­ler, VR Equi­typ­art­ner remains a mino­rity share­hol­der and supports the further expan­sion of MEGABAD.

The tradi­tio­nal Colo­­gne-based company Gott­fried Stil­ler, foun­ded in 1973 as a sani­tary trade specia­list, has been selling via its own webshop MEGABAD.com since 2003, making it the first sani­tary retailer in Germany with an online sales chan­nel. Toge­ther with VR Equi­typ­art­ner, the company succes­sion was initia­ted in 2019 and, in paral­lel, the company’s growth course was streng­the­ned and consis­t­ently continued.

FSN Capi­tal, with its e‑commerce exper­tise as the new majo­rity share­hol­der, will build on the company’s strong market posi­tion in its core markets and drive inter­na­tio­nal expan­sion. The tran­sac­tion is still subject to anti­trust clearance. The parties have agreed not to disc­lose the purchase price.

Foun­ded in 1932, the Gott­fried Stil­ler Group is conside­red the largest sani­ta­ry­ware retailer in Colo­gne and, in addi­tion to two specia­list stores, opera­tes the webshop MEGABAD.com, a pioneer in its segment and one of the leading German sani­ta­ry­ware online retail­ers. As “The profes­sio­nal for the bath­room”, MEGABAD specia­li­zes in the sani­tary sector and offers a full range of fittings, cera­mics, shower enclo­sures, bath­room furni­ture and access­ories for private custo­mers as well as craft­smen and trades­men. The MEGABAD Group employs 220 people and sells products from all well-known manu­fac­tu­r­ers as well as high-quality own brands. The company has grown signi­fi­cantly in recent years and will conti­nue to bene­fit from e‑commerce market growth in the future.

Toge­ther with the invest­ment company VR Equi­typ­art­ner, a succes­sive succes­sion plan was initia­ted in the family-owned company in 2019 and, in paral­lel, the basis was laid for further acce­le­ra­tion of the growth course. With Harald Hotop, an expe­ri­en­ced indus­try specia­list (form­erly Rich­ter + Fren­zel and Ideal Stan­dard) could be won for the manage­ment of the group. At the end of the current year, the company will enter the market with a new warehouse concept and a doubling of logi­stics capa­city. This crea­tes the basis for a signi­fi­cant increase in sales, even beyond the boun­da­ries of the markets previously served.

“We have been able to achieve important mile­sto­nes with VR Equi­typ­art­ner in recent years. For the next growth steps, we jointly looked for another inves­tor and found the right part­ner in FSN Capi­tal. We are very much looking forward to working toge­ther in this circle,” says Stefan Stiller.

“We remain convin­ced of MEGABAD’s outstan­ding busi­ness model and long-term growth pros­pects. Toge­ther with the Stil­ler family and the manage­ment, we were able to imple­ment the company’s succes­sion and signi­fi­cantly streng­then the group’s market posi­tion,” explains Chris­tian Futter­lieb, Mana­ging Direc­tor at VR Equi­typ­art­ner. Justin Kent, Part­ner at FSN Capi­tal Part­ners, added: “MEGABAD is a great fit for our port­fo­lio and we are very much looking forward to working with the Stil­ler family, Harald Hotop and VR Equi­typ­art­ner to conti­nue MEGABAD’s expan­sion in the DACH region and inter­na­tio­nal markets.”

About VR Equitypartner
VR Equi­typ­art­ner is one of the leading equity finan­ciers in Germany, Austria and Switz­er­land. The company supports medium-sized family busi­nesses in a goal-orien­­ted manner and with deca­des of expe­ri­ence in the stra­te­gic solu­tion of complex finan­cing issues. Invest­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties include growth and expan­sion finan­cing, corpo­rate succes­sion or share­hol­der chan­ges. VR Equi­typ­art­ner offers majo­rity and mino­rity invest­ments as well as mezza­nine finan­cing. As a subsi­diary of DZ BANK, the central insti­tu­tion of the coope­ra­tive banks in Germany, VR Equi­typ­art­ner consis­t­ently puts the sustaina­bi­lity of corpo­rate deve­lo­p­ment ahead of short-term exit thin­king. VR Equitypartner’s port­fo­lio curr­ently compri­ses around 60 commit­ments with an invest­ment volume of EUR 400 million. www.vrep.de.

The tran­sac­tion team at VR Equitypartner:

Tim Feld (Member of the Manage­ment Board), Hedwig Holken­brink, Hendrik Horn­bo­gen, Jens Schöf­fel, Jens Osthoff

Consul­ting firms invol­ved in the tran­sac­tion by VR Equitypartner:

GCA Altium
Latham & Watkins
KPMG
OMMAX