Douglas Holding

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Douglas Holding AG

logo
legal form Corporation
founding 1971
Seat Hagen , GermanyGermanyGermany 
management
Number of employees 24,221 (September 30, 2012)
sales 3.44 billion euros (2011/12)
Branch retail trade

The Douglas Holding was a retail group composed of companies in the industries confectionery, perfumery, bookshops and fashion . The sales lines included the Hussel confectionery, the Douglas perfumery , the retail bookstore Thalia Buchhandel and the women's fashion brand AppelrathCüpper . After the takeover by the financial investor Advent International, Douglas Holding was delisted from the stock exchange in 2013 and the conglomerate was gradually broken down into its individual divisions.

history

Historic logo of Douglas Holding AG
Douglas Holding AG shares in excess of DM 1000 in June 1989

The roots of the company were Hussel Süßwarenfilialbetrieb GmbH , which was founded in 1949 by Rudolf Hussel in Hagen. In 1962 the company was converted into an AG and Herbert Eklöh , a friend of Hussel's, took over 95% of the shares. When he resold the shares a short time later, some of them at a large profit, he broke up with Hussel, who then left the company.

Under the direction of the then chairman of the board, Herbert Eklöh  , Hussel AG pursued an expansion policy into other retail sectors. This was driven forward under the direction of Eklöh's successor, Jörn Kreke, particularly through acquisitions in the perfumery sector. In 1969, for example, Hussel Holding AG took over the then six branches of Perfumery Douglas from Hamburg.

The acquired perfumeries were initially combined under the name Hanhausen-Douglas GmbH . In the course of this development, Hussel AG was restructured into a holding company in 1972 with two operating companies: one for confectionery and one for perfumeries. In 1973 Hanhausen-Douglas GmbH took over the Austrian Ruttner chain. From 1976 onwards, all of the acquired branches finally traded under the name “Parfümerie Douglas”, the associated company under “Parfümerie Douglas GmbH”.  

In the course of further acquisitions and the growing importance of the perfumery branch in Hussel Holding AG, further corporate structuring took place. This was completed in 1989 with the establishment of Douglas Holding AG, which replaced Hussel Holding AG.

Expansion into other retail sectors

Douglas Holding AG took over part of the eleven branches of the men's outfitter Pohland in 1995 and all of them in 2005 and sold them to the Munich-based industrial holding company Aurelius AG in September 2007 . Also in 1995 Douglas Holding acquired a stake in the Frankfurt jewelery chain Christ and in 1997 took over the majority. In 2001, Henning Kreke took over the chairmanship of the holding from his father. In the same year, the Thalia bookstores (Hamburg) and the previously acquired book trade activities of Douglas Holding ( Phönix-Montanus ) were merged to form Thalia Holding and have since then been operating under the Thalia name.

Takeover by financial investor and stock market delisting

In 2012, the Kreke family, together with the private equity investor Advent International, made a public takeover offer to the other shareholders for the takeover of Douglas Holding AG. A successful takeover was guaranteed by the board members Henning Kreke , Burkhard Bamberger , Michael Busch and Manfred Kroneder. From the publicly accessible documents of the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority it can be seen that a share should be sold at a price of 38 euros. The technical securities settlement was carried out by Commerzbank and Goldman Sachs was the representative of the financing confirmation for Advent International. After the public buyout, the majority (80%) of the company was owned by Advent International; the Kreke family continued to hold 20% of the shares in the company. This was followed by the delisting from the stock exchange and a strategic realignment of the conglomerate, which by 2014 became a pure perfumery chain again. The other individual business areas of the former Douglas Holding were gradually sold (see below).

Former divisions

Perfumery Douglas GmbH

Douglas Perfumeries logo

The Parfumerie Douglas was a 100% subsidiary of Douglas Holding AG . Since June 1, 2015, Douglas has been 85 percent owned by the financial investor CVC Capital Partners and 15 percent by the Kreke family. With more than 2,400 perfumeries and online shops in 26 European countries and sales of around 3.3 billion euros (financial year 2017/18), Douglas maintains its market leadership in the beauty industry in Europe.

Douglas store in Darmstadt

Under the management of CEO Isabelle Parize, the headquarters of Douglas GmbH was relocated from Hagen to Düsseldorf in October 2016. According to the company, the customer-oriented areas of the former headquarters in Hagen and online activities from Cologne should be bundled in one place. After Douglas achieved market leadership in France by taking over the perfumery chain Nocibé in 2014, the company continued to expand: In 2017 Douglas signed agreements to take over the Spanish perfumery chains Bodybell and Perfumerias If, and in the same year also took over the Italian perfumeries Limoni and La Gardenia . In 2018, he also took over Parfümerie Akzente , which operates the successful online shop parfumdreams. Tina Müller Group has been CEO of Douglas since November 2017 .

Christ jewelers and watchmakers since 1863 GmbH

Christ jewelers in Düsseldorf

The Christian jewelers and watchmakers since 1863 GmbH was a 100% subsidiary of Douglas Holding AG . 204 jewelry branches generated sales of EUR 310.2 million in the 2009/10 financial year. With 2,173 employees, Christ is the largest German jewelry company.

For Christ jewelers and watchmakers since 1863 GmbH include:

  • Christ jewelers
  • Juwelier Weiss (Originally the Douglas Holding AG jewelry company , was integrated into Christ Juweliere und Uhrmacher GmbH since 1863 after the takeover of Christ )

On October 27, 2014 it was announced that Christ will be sold to the investor 3i .

Hussel GmbH

Hussel branch

For many years, Hussel GmbH was a 100% subsidiary of Douglas Holding AG and was sold to Eckhard Cordes' Emeram Capital Partners in March 2014 . The confectionery shops generated sales of EUR 99.4 million in the 2009/10 financial year.

The Hussel GmbH includes:

Reiner AppelrathCüpper Nachf. GmbH

Logo from AppelrathCüpper

The Reiner AppelrathCüpper Nachf. GmbH was a 100% subsidiary of Douglas Holding AG . The 13 specialist shops with 751 employees in the womenswear sector generated sales of 122.1 million euros in the 2011/12 financial year. In 2016 AppelrathCüpper was sold to the British financial investor OpCapita, who at the time also owned the cheap textile chain NKD .

At the end of April 2020, Appelrath-Cüpper applied for insolvency proceedings under self- administration following the official closure of the shops due to the corona pandemic in Germany ( lockdown ) ; the Cologne District Court has approved this.

Thalia Holding GmbH

The Thalia Holding GmbH was a 75% subsidiary of Douglas Holding AG and the Könnecke Beteiligungs-GmbH to 25%. The 289 bookstores and bookstores achieved a turnover of 905.8 million euros with a total of 5,186 employees in the 2009/10 financial year.

In 2013, the majority of Thalia's shares were sold to the financial investor Advent , which was acquired in July 2016 by a consortium led by Herder- Verlag. The Kreke family, original owners of Douglas Holding, are still minority shareholders.

For Thalia Holding GmbH include:

Web links

Commons : Douglas Holding  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Jörn Kreke, Hugo Müller-Vogg: The Douglas Story. Jörn Kreke on trading with heart and mind . Hoffmann and Campe Verlag, Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-455-50172-8 , pp. 82-92 .
  2. ↑ a b Annual Report 2011/2012. Douglas Holding AG, archived from the original on October 2, 2013 ; accessed on August 11, 2016 .
  3. ^ Henryk Hielscher: Will Douglas be dismantled? December 4, 2013, accessed August 8, 2017 .
  4. ↑ a b Douglas says goodbye to the stock exchange after 50 years. In: Manager Magazin . May 28, 2013. Retrieved August 8, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Financial investor CVC takes over Douglas. In: Handelsblatt. June 1, 2015, accessed April 30, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Ingeborg Haase: Don't be afraid of small shops. In: The time . June 26, 1964. Retrieved February 9, 2018 .
  7. ↑ a b c d Sabine Schaller-John: Scented event - Douglas opens 1,000. Perfumery in the heart of Madrid. In: pressrelations. Douglas Holding AG, October 19, 2007, accessed February 9, 2018 .
  8. ↑ a b c d Where Douglas comes from. In: Douglas Corporate Website. Douglas GmbH, accessed February 9, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Aurelius takes over men's outfitter Pohland from Douglas. In: finanznachrichten.de . September 17, 2007, accessed February 9, 2018 .
  10. ^ Anton Notz: Henning Kreke: When the son with the father. In: Financial Times Germany . April 15, 2004, archived from the original on June 11, 2013 ; Retrieved January 19, 2009 .
  11. ↑ History: Thalia. Thalia , accessed August 9, 2016 .
  12. ↑ BaFin: Offer documents. In: BaFin public documents. October 31, 2012, accessed on October 8, 2019 (German).
  13. ↑ Financial investor buys Douglas. In: Handelsblatt . April 12, 2012, Retrieved February 9, 2018 .
  14. ↑ No fragrance for the stock exchange air. In: www.buchreport.de. Retrieved August 9, 2016 .
  15. ^ Douglas IPO called off. In: Focus . June 1, 2015, accessed February 9, 2018 .
  16. ^ Douglas GmbH: company text. In: Douglas Corporate Website. Douglas GmbH, May 9, 2019, accessed May 9, 2019 .
  17. ↑ Douglas GmbH: Douglas participates in the start-up Welmoa in the Beauty At Home sector. April 17, 2019, accessed May 9, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Douglas GmbH: FY 2017/18 Financial Results. (PDF) In: Douglas Corporate Website. Douglas GmbH, December 11, 2018, accessed April 30, 2019 .
  19. ↑ Douglas perfumery chain opens 1,000 in Madrid. Branch. In: WDR . October 19, 2007, archived from the original on June 24, 2008 ; accessed on February 9, 2018 .
  20. ↑ Douglas launches investment program to accelerate growth and strengthen its position as a leading European omnichannel provider. February 16, 2016, accessed April 30, 2019 .
  21. ↑ Douglas buys Nocibé. February 14, 2014, accessed April 30, 2019 .
  22. ↑ Acquisition of Bodybell completed - Douglas becomes leading perfumery chain in Spain. June 6, 2017, accessed April 30, 2019 .
  23. ↑ Douglas takes over up to 103 Perfumerias If branches - new number 1 in Spain. July 27, 2017, accessed April 30, 2019 .
  24. ↑ Takeover of Limoni and La Gardenia completed - Douglas now also a leader in the Italian beauty sector. November 15, 2017, accessed April 30, 2019 .
  25. ↑ Douglas successfully completes takeover of parfumdreams. August 16, 2018, accessed April 30, 2019 .
  26. ↑ Douglas appoints Tina Müller as CEO. September 25, 2017. Retrieved April 30, 2019 .
  27. ↑ Kirsten Bialdiga: Douglas becomes unadorned. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . October 27, 2014, accessed February 9, 2018 .
  28. ↑ EMERAM Capital Partners acquires the Hussel confectionery chain from DOUGLAS HOLDING. Douglas Holding, archived from the original on May 12, 2014 ; accessed on May 9, 2014 .
  29. ↑ manager-magazin.de April 27, 2020
  30. ↑ Douglas leaves, Thalia stays. In: Börsenblatt . June 2, 2015, accessed February 9, 2018 .
  31. ↑ Florian Kolf, Kirsten Ludowig: Thalia new owner: From problem child to trendy business. In: Handelsblatt . July 11, 2016. Retrieved August 9, 2016 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 24 ′ 26.7 "  N , 7 ° 28 ′ 47.9"  E