FSN Capital’s FSN Capital IV has agreed to sell EET A/S (EET) to funds advised by Pamplona Capital Management.
Headquartered in Birkerød, Denmark, EET is a leading value-added distributor of technology products and spare parts in Europe, serving customers across six business lines through operations in 24 countries. EET has more than 600 employees of which more than 70 per cent are customer or vendor facing. Through a combination of organic growth and 25 add-on acquisitions EET has grown its EBITDA by ~2.5x since it was acquired by FSN Capital IV in April 2015.
FSN Capital has since the acquisition worked with management to accelerate growth and drive operational improvements through the implementation of the FSN Execution Framework, a consistent methodology and toolkit applied across all FSN portfolio companies.
With the support of FSN Capital, EET has undergone a deep transformation, which has enabled its strong growth and industry-leading profitability. EET expanded its management team and strengthened its digital and ESG capabilities significantly. Key to the company’s transition was rebalancing its product portfolio to increasingly focus on the higher-growth segments in the IT hardware space.
Digitalisation has been a key area of focus for EET and FSN Capital. Since 2015, significant investments have been made into digital tools and solutions, including a new state-of-the-art e-commerce platform, product information management system, automated marketing tools, Salesforce implementation, proprietary sales app, AI-driven supply chain management, and real-time customer feedback platform. Notably, investing in a robotic warehouse solution enabled EET’s logistics function to support the company’s high growth. The introduction of a centralised pricing team working with proprietary software enabled real-time price optimisation of EET’s portfolio of more than one million product SKUs.
Lars Denkov, Partner with FSN Capital, says: “From day one it has been a true pleasure working with the fantastic team at EET – first with John Thomas at the helm and then with Søren Drewsen, once John transitioned into a board role. Technology hardware has been a growing industry for more than five decades driven by continued digitalisation and proliferation of end points.
“Value-adding distribution companies like EET have a critical role to play in facilitating the digitalisation of societies. Through investing in its long-term success, we believe EET has created an industry-leading platform positioned for significant further growth. We are extremely proud of what we have accomplished together, and the results created together with the management team and the board. We look forward to following the next stage of EET’s growth journey with Pamplona Capital Management.”
Søren Drewsen, Chief Executive Officer at EET, says: “During FSN Capital IV’s ownership we have accelerated the successful path we have been on for the past two decades. Together we have invested heavily into our organisation, our digital tools and capabilities, and our processes. We have grown our company strongly, both organically and through acquisitions, and believe we are uniquely positioned to continue serving our customers and vendors better than any other distributor in our industry. We thank FSN for a great partnership and guidance and now look forward to the next growth stage together with Pamplona.”
