Royal Copenhagen, one of Denmark’s oldest companies, is the Scandinavian brand leader in hand-painted porcelain and ranks among the leading brands in Japan. Today Royal Copenhagen is an internationally renowned brand offering exclusive products of superior craftsmanship and design quality. Certain brands can be traced back to 1775, the founding date of Royal Copenhagen.Since 2009 Royal Copenhagen has pruned its product range significantly, improved their supply chain and concentrated sales efforts on fewer markets. Overall, Royal Copenhagen has seen double-digit growth within its core range in its two largest markets –Denmark and Japan – as well as strong growth in Korea, Taiwan, Germany and Norway. This has led to overall growth in sales and an improved profitability, and in 2011 Royal Copenhagen recorded a turnover of DKK 492 million and an EBITDA of DKK 60 million.
The acquirer, Fiskars, is a leading global supplier of consumer products for the home, garden and outdoors. The group has a strong portfolio of respected international brands, including Fiskars, Iittala and Gerber. Founded in 1649 and listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki, Fiskars is Finland’s oldest company. Fiskars recorded net sales of EUR 743 million in 2011, and employs some 3,400 people in over 20 countries.
FIH Partners has acted as exclusive financial advisor to the owners of Royal Copenhagen and arranged a structured auction process targeting multiple trade and financial buyers from all over the world. The divestment of Royal Copenhagen for DKK 490 million on an enterprise value basis is the outcome of a competitive process.
