Drake Star Partners Advises Flinders On Its Sale To Nine United

AMSTERDAM | January 4, 2021 – Flinders becomes part of the NINE UNITED family. Dutch-based furniture retailer Flinders B.V. has sold 100% of the Flinders shares from management and external investors RTL Ventures and Peak Capital. With this acquisition, Flinders now is part of Nine United Ecommerce at Nine United A/S in Denmark. Drake Star Partners acted as the exclusive financial advisor to the shareholders of Flinders on this cross-border transaction in high-end furniture e-Commerce.

Geert-Jan Smits, founder of Flinders, is leaving the company to start an innovative and sustainable initiative for the furniture industry. COO Oscar Diele succeeds CEO Geert-Jan Smits and becomes CEO of Flinders. Flinders will continue to operate as a local entity and local brand within the NINE UNITED family.

Oscar Diele of Flinders commented, “We believe that Flinders is a very good fit with the NINE UNITED group. We share the same values and believe that strong results can only be made by people who care. Being part of NINE UNITED will allow us to continue our success story in the Benelux market.”

“Through this transaction, Flinders’ mission will continue to thrive as part of the European leader in high-end furniture e-Commerce,” comments Frank Verbeek, Managing Partner at Drake Star Partners. Frank Verbeek adds: “We see a fastening shift towards the digital marketplace, with consumers increasingly turning to perfectly organised online channels also for purchasing high-end furniture.”

Following the successful transactions of United Wardrobe, SitterCity, Freepik, and Blurb, the sale of Flinders adds yet another landmark transaction to Drake Star’s strong marketplace/e-Commerce track-record. As marketplaces and e-Commerce are increasingly becoming a cross-border play, Drake Star is uniquely positioned through its global presence and dedicated sector expertise. We are ready to leverage our unique marketplace/e-Commerce insights to support like-minded entrepreneurs aiming for a winning position.

Nine United A/S

Nine United is a privately held family of companies. The Nine United family covers a range of different areas; design, architecture, branding, garment accessories, window decoration, and sustainable development projects. Today Nine United employs more than 800 people.

For more information, please visit www.nineunited.com

About Nine United Ecommerce

Nine United Ecommerce is the ecommerce segment of Nine United A/S. The segment currently includes three of the leading online shops in the European home & living market: AmbienteDirect, Connox and Flinders. The aim of Nine United Ecommerce is to jointly guarantee the best possible customer experience.

For more information, please visit www.nineunited-ecommerce.com

About Flinders

Flinders is the leading premium furniture retailer in the Netherlands and Belgium. The company, based in Zaandam (NL), offers 36.000 products, ranging from furniture, lighting to home & living accessories. It is the mission of Flinders to “make design-dreams come alive”.

For more information, please visit www.flinders.nl