Lotte — Silver­fleet Capi­tal acqui­res 7days Group, a leading specia­list in fashionable work­wear for medi­cal profes­si­ons. Silver­fleet Capi­tal, the Euro­pean private equity firm specia­li­zing in “buy to build”, has signed a binding agree­ment with the invest­ment company Odewald KMU and the company’s foun­ders Marc Staper­feld and Ulrich Dölken to acquire a majo­rity stake. The two foun­ders conti­nue to be invol­ved in the company through a reverse share­hol­ding. The tran­sac­tion is still subject to regu­la­tory appr­oval; the parties have agreed not to disc­lose the purchase price.

7days designs, manu­fac­tures and distri­bu­tes profes­sio­nal clot­hing for the health­care sector. The exten­sive product range includes, among other things, doctors’ and lab coats, tops such as polo shirts and sweat­shirts, pants, as well as shoes and access­ories; a parti­cu­lar focus is on the range for doctors’ and dentists’ surge­ries. The company, foun­ded in 1999 and head­quar­te­red in Lotte near Osna­brück, is active not only in Germany but also in Austria, Switz­er­land, France, Belgium and the Nether­lands. The design studio and purcha­sing depart­ment are also loca­ted in Lotte; the produc­tion site is in Tangier, Morocco. As a verti­cally inte­gra­ted supplier, 7days sells its artic­les both online via webshop and news­let­ter and tradi­tio­nally via cata­log. The company accepts orders online, by phone or by fax.

Silver­fleet Capital’s commit­ment is inten­ded to support 7days in expan­ding its market posi­tion in Germany and the other exis­ting markets, as well as in deve­lo­ping other regi­ons such as Scan­di­na­via and addi­tio­nal custo­mer segments. The acqui­si­tion is Silver­fleet Capital’s second German invest­ment in the second half of 2017 and the seventh invest­ment from its current fund.

“7days has a strong brand and a loyal core custo­mer base. The company opera­tes as a leader in its indus­try in a specia­li­zed, fast-growing and inter­na­tio­nal market — a text­book invest­ment for us,” says Joachim Braun, Part­ner at Silver­fleet Capi­tal and respon­si­ble for invest­ment acti­vi­ties in Germany, Austria and Switz­er­land. “We look forward to working with the expe­ri­en­ced manage­ment team led by Marc Staper­feld to further deve­lop the company.”

Marc Staper­feld, foun­der and CEO of 7days adds: “It makes me proud that 7days has grown signi­fi­cantly since its incep­tion. I am deligh­ted that Silver­fleet Capi­tal is now accom­pany­ing us into the next phase of deve­lo­p­ment. With its pan-Euro­pean presence and exten­sive invest­ment expe­ri­ence, Silver­fleet Capi­tal is the ideal part­ner for our further growth plans. The team shares our vision and the values that drive the company’s success.”

The Silver­fleet team entrus­ted with the tran­sac­tion includes Munich-based invest­ment experts Joachim Braun, Benja­min Hubner, Jenni­fer Regehr and Jan Kux. Silver­fleet was advi­sed by Alva­rez & Marsal (Finan­cial), goetz­part­ners(Commer­cial), Noerr (Legal, Corpo­rate), Shear­man & Ster­ling (Legal, Banking), Deloitte (Tax), Herter & Co. (Debt Advi­sory), ecce­le­rate (Digital/Online), KPMG (M&A) and Marsh (Insu­rance).

About 7days Group
Foun­ded in 1999, the 7days Group is a fully inte­gra­ted B2B mail order company of medi­cal and nursing work­wear with a fashion focus. The product range includes, among others, jackets, pants, polo shirts, smocks, shoes and access­ories; indi­vi­dual embro­idery and third-party brands round off the product range. Key success factors are the fashion orien­ta­tion, the high quality stan­dards and the compre­hen­sive custo­mer service.

Advi­sors to Odewald KMU: Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek
Dr. Pär Johans­son (lead), Dr. Phil­ipp Jansen, Dr. Chris­toph Schork, LL.M. (all Private Equity, Corporate/M&A), all Cologne
Fabian G. Gaffron (Tax Law), Dr. Frede­rik Wiemer (Anti­trust Law), all Hamburg