Second attempt at sale
Former KPN board member Ad Scheepbouwer, former RFS director Paul Nijhof and financial director Berend van der Maat currently own 80 % of RFS Holland Holding, after an acquisition in 2008. According to Dutch newspaper Financieele Dagblad, Apax and RFS Holding have almost reached an agreement about a possible sale.
RFS Holland Holding had been on sale a first time in 2012, but no deal could be reached at the time. One of those reasons was that the entire process took too long to get started, while its owners wanted a very high sum for the company, some 800 million euro.
RFS Holland Holding not only consists of Wehkamp, but also has FonQ and Create2Fit – and Lacent, which provides credit to customers who want to pay in installments for those three web shops. Apparently, about 30 % of RFS Holland Holding’s use this particular service. In its fiscal year 2013/2014, the company’s turnover dropped 0.7 % to 498.1 million euro, while its operating income even dropped 32 % to 29 million euro.
