Samsonite International has acquired Speck Products, a designer and distributor of slim protective cases for personal electronic devices, and a portfolio company of VMG Partners, for $85 million in cash. For the year ended December 31, 2013, Speck reported net sales of $105 million.
Speck Products makes protective cases for portable electronic devices including iPad, iPhone, MacBook, Android devices, Windows Phone devices, tablets and eReaders. Speck’s products are sold in Apple Store locations worldwide. In the US they are also sold at Best Buy, Target, AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Toys R Us and other retailers. Speck opened a retail store in 2011 in Palo Alto, California. The company was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Mountain View, CA (www.speckproducts.com).
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of Speck’s employees for their dedication and hard work since VMG made its investment. It has been an extremely rewarding experience working with the talented and passionate team at Speck, and helping them to build a market leading brand in their product category. We are confident that the brand will continue to thrive under Samsonite’s ownership,” said Michael Mauze, Managing Director, VMG Partners.”
“Speck is the second strategic addition we have made to our growing portfolio of brands this year,” said Tim Parker, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Samsonite. “It is an exciting acquisition for us, as it marks our first foray outside of what is considered the ‘traditional’ luggage space, into a different, yet complementary, product segment. Global smartphone and tablet shipments are forecast to grow by 14.4%1 and 15.7% CAGR respectively from 2013-2017, driving the growth of the protective case market, and with many consumers purchasing multiple cases for each device they own, there is enormous potential.”
“We are thrilled about joining Samsonite. Although Speck experienced a temporary setback in 2013 from its historically strong results when the business was impacted by an industry-wide overhang in inventory from 2012, efforts to restructure the business are already well underway,” said Irene Baran, CEO of Speck Products. “The opportunity to leverage Samsonite’s established infrastructure and excellence in operations and marketing will enable us to take advantage of the anticipated strong growth in the smartphone and tablet industries to position Speck as a global market leader. With our strong foundation in the US mobile device protective case market and Samsonite’s geographic reach, we see new and vast opportunities to grow the Speck brand to its full potential, and reach millions of new customers around the world.”
VMG Partners invests in branded consumer products companies in the lower middle market. Targeted industries include food, beverage, wellness, pet and household products, personal care and lifestyle brands. The firm is has offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles (www.vmgpartners.com).
Samsonite International is the world’s largest travel luggage company, with a heritage dating back more than 100 years. The company is principally engaged in the design, manufacture, sourcing and distribution of luggage, business and computer bags, outdoor and casual bags, and travel accessories throughout the world, primarily under the Samsonite, American Tourister, High Sierra, Hartmann, Lipault and Speck brand names and other owned and licensed brand namnes. The company’s core brand, Samsonite, is one of the most well-known travel luggage brands in the world. Samsonite is headquartered in Luxembourg (www.samsonite.com).
2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 5-30-14
