Swiss retailer Mobilezone has acquired Cologne-based Sparhandy (SH) Telekommunikation Deutschland. The purchase price corresponds to a multiple of 7.4x normalized EBIT in 2018 of EUR 10 million. The price consists of three components: cash, 4,466,376 Mobilezone shares and an earn-out of EUR 3 million.
The cash component is financed by bank loans. Sparhandy's shareholders have signed a lock-up agreement to hold 50 percent of the shares for two years and another 50 percent for three years.
The founder of Sparhandy, Wilke Stroman, will continue to hold the position of Managing Director at SH, and together with Haubrich Verwaltungs will hold a stake of just under 10 percent in Mobilezone after the deal.
In financial year 2018, Sparhandy reached sales of EUR 517 million with a normalized EBIT of EUR 10 million. In the past three years, its online business has grown on average 15 percent per year. In 2018, the online business generated sales of EUR 147 million. Distribution and wholesale generated EUR 370 million in 2018. It employs 250 people.
Through the acquisition, Mobilezone aims to reach 1 million mobile phone contracts per year in Germany. It already owns the provider EinsMobile in Germany, acquired in 2015. Moreover, Sparhandy adds its existing business relationship with the ElectronicPartner Group and the Medimax stores.
With Sparhandy.TV, the firm operates its own television station for the distribution of mobile phone contracts. In 2018, 50,000 mobile phone contracts were sold through the channel. Sparhandy operates its own MVNO business with 50,000 customers under the 'High' brand on the Telekom network.
