Acquisition of the Smartbox group, except its British subsidiary, by Wonderbox
FR
Sycomore Corporate Finance acted as exclusive financial advisor to Wonderbox and its majority shareholders
Wonderbox has announced to its employee representatives a project to acquire Smartbox, except for its British subsidiary, from the family office Otium Capital.
Rationale
For several years, the experience and leisure market has been facing important structural changes with an increase in the number of players and an increasing digitalization of offers. This acquisition project would open up great prospects for the two companies, which, by joining forces and combining their expertise, would be able to:
Founded in 2004 in France by Bertile Burel & James Blouzard, then joined by Fabrice Lépine in 2007, Wonderbox is a key player in the leisure market, operating in 4 complementary sectors: gift boxes, gift cards, activity booking and incentive platforms. Wonderbox is present in 13 countries through more than 20 brands and has a portfolio of 140,000 leisure activities and stays through its 23,000 partners. In 2021, the Group generated a business volume of €240m.
Founded in 2003 by Pierre-Edouard Stérin and managed by Paola Pianciola since the end of 2020, Smartbox is the European specialist in experience gift boxes (€387m in sales in 2021) and has recently expanded into the booking of packaged weekends with the brand Weekendesk. The Group has been managed since 2013 by Otium Capital, Pierre-Edouard Stérin’s family office.