Furniture start-up AH-Trading goes to Swedish group

80 percent of AH-Trading, the company behind platforms such as Gartenmöbel.de, is being sold to the Swedish Bygghemma Group. The Scandinavians are paying 36 million euros for this.

AH-Trading is behind platforms such as Gartenmöbel.de and Loungedreams, and now 80 percent of the Xanten-based company is going to the Swedish Bygghemma Group (BHG). BHG is paying 36 million euros for this, plus twelve million depending on AH-Trading's operating profit this year and next.

The founding couple Birgit and Aron Holtermann will retain the remaining 20 percent and remain in the company as managing directors. They are building up the Swedish group's market presence in Germany: "The takeover of AH-Trading is strategically important for us, not least because BHG already has a customer base in Germany, where we are now gaining a local organization and presence," says BHG CEO Adam Schatz and also talks about other neighbouring countries into which his company wants to expand from Germany. In Scandinavia, BHG is the market leader in e-commerce.

"We look forward to continuing our successful development together with BHG and expanding our expertise," says founder Aron Holtermann, "to further shape our strong growth." BGH expects AH-Trading to increase its turnover to 66 million euros this year and almost double its profit from 3.5 to 6.7 million euros. Holtermann sees the "transition to BHG as a logical step to reach the next stage of the company's development". He founded the company in 2004 with Birgit Holtermann, and today AH-Trading has around 120 employees. At the company headquarters in Xanten, designers develop their own products in the furniture segment, and AH-Trading also sells other brands via its platforms in addition to its own brands.

The BHG Group has secured the option for the remaining 20 percent. Part of the sum now paid will also go to investor Fabian Simon, who owned 20 percent of AH-Trading.