Swedish consumer ecommerce giant BHG Group acquires online home decor firm Nordic Nest for €175M

Swedish consumer e-commerce giant BHG Group has acquired 97.6% of Scandinavian design e-tailer Nordic Nest. Through the acquisition, BHG claims to strengthen its position as the largest online player within home furnishings in the Nordics. It also wants to create a platform for an extended product range and growth in additional expansion.

The transaction

The acquisition deal was made in cash for SEK1.6B (approx €156M) and values Nordic Nest at SEK1.8B (approx €175.6M).

With this development, Nordic Nest CEO Bank Bergstrom and the management team will continue running the business from Kalmar, Sweden, and will retain ownership in the company. The company will form a new vertical within BHG and be consolidated into the home furnishing segment.

The sellers of Nordic Nest include local private investors from Sweden, including Stella EOC Capital, Nordstjernan, Nicklas Storakers, Paul Fischbein, and H&M’s Karl-Johan Persson via Philian Invest.

What does Nordic Nest do?

Founded in 2002 by Jorgen Bodmar, Nordic Nest offers home decoration design online, with a focus on tableware and other products. It

Since 2016, Nordic Nest’s growth rate (CAGR) was approx 50%, and EBITDA amounted to approx SEK120M (approx €11.7M). As for the 2020/21 fiscal year, the company claims to bring in SEK1B (approx €97.6M) in sales, produced through 10 web-shops, from a product portfolio of more than 220 premium brands and approx 30,000 unique products.

Martin Edblad, one of the founders of BHG and responsible for M&A said, ”We have followed Nordic Nest for a long time and are very impressed by how the company, under Bank Bergstrom and his team’s leadership, has developed, at the same time establishing a strong position in mainland Europe and select Asian countries. We have a common view of entrepreneurship and online leadership and very much look forward to working together, in the Nordics and in new geographies.”

Everything about BHG

BHG is a consumer e-commerce company in the Nordics and also present in most of Eastern and Central Europe. The company mainly operates in the home improvement space, meaning Do-It-Yourself (DIY) and Home furnishings.

With an ecosystem of online stores, supported by physical destinations and services, such as last-mile deliveries and installation, the company offers a range of well-known external and strong own brands, with over 800,000 unique products and encompassing a complete offering within DIY, leisure, furniture, and furnishings.

Besides, the Group also includes over 85 online sites – including sites such as bygghemma.se, trademax.se, and chilli.se – and over 70 showrooms. The company’s share is traded on Nasdaq Stockholm, under the ticker “BHG.”