HIG Europe has backed the management buyout of Kondor, provider of mobile and consumer electronics accessories into the UK and European retail markets.
Terms were not disclosed.
Founded in 1994 by the chairman Malcolm Bartlett, Kondor has evolved alongside the rapid growth in the smartphone and tablet market and today supplies a wide range of accessories including headphones, cases and speakers.
Global brands that Kondor partners with include Beats By Dr Dre, Skullcandy, Sony and Samsung.
Kondor supplies more than 10,000 products into more than of 11,000 stores in the UK and 7,500 outlets across Europe. UK customers include John Lewis, Dixons, Tesco, Carphone Warehouse, Argos, O2 and Everything Everywhere.
The company, which employs over 200 people in its Christchurch, Dorset headquarters and Hong Kong sourcing office, ships up to 270,000 units per week. Kondor expects to generate revenues of over GBP100m in 2014. The purchase, from Kondor’s founder, is led by Kondor’s chief executive Robert Haycock, who joined Kondor in 2005.
Paul Canning, managing director, HIG Europe, says: “Kondor is the established UK market leader in this sector and management has ambitious plans to continue to expand both in the UK and internationally. This aligns perfectly with HIG’s experience and expertise. We look forward to working with them in supporting their growth plans.”
Haycock says: “Kondor is well positioned to deepen and broaden its client relationships – more and more of whom are taking advantage of our fully integrated offering. With HIG’s support, we can ensure our customer offering continues to be the industry benchmark whilst we continue to grow.”
Kondor marks HIG Europe’s maiden investment from HIG Europe II, the EUR825m fund which closed last year.
