Volati has signed an agreement to acquire the shares in Akademibokhandeln Holding AB.
The purchase consideration for 100% of the shares amounts to SEK 263 million. The acquisition will take place at an estimated enterprise value (EV) of about SEK 760 million. The management will remain as shareholders, with holdings amounting to around 5.2% of the shares in Akademibokhandeln Holding AB. The acquisition is conditional on approval from the Swedish Competition Authority.
Akademibokhandeln is the market leading book retailer in Sweden with a market share of about 35% of consumer book retailing and has a strong offering for all product and delivery formats. For 2016, the Akademibokhandeln Group’s net sales amounted to SEK 1.8 billion and EBITDA to SEK 125 million.
Volati is a Swedish industrial group which, before this acquisition, comprises some 40 operating companies divided into 12 business units organised in three business areas: Trading, Consumer and Industry. Volati acquires companies and develops these with an emphasis on long-term value creation. Volati has operations in 16 countries, with a total of about 1,200 employees and annual sales of approximately SEK 3.2 billion. Volati’s common share and preference share are listed on Nasdaq Stockholm.
Gernandt & Danielsson advises Volati with a team consisting of Partners Mikael Borg, Corinne Ekman and Rolf Larsson (Competition), Senior Associates Erik Sandgren (IPR), Gabriel Zsiga (M&A), Daniel Lindänge Gutman (Real estate) and Sofie Viktorsson (Financing) and Associates Elin Eliasson (Competition), Daniel Sveen (M&A) and David Carell (M&A).