Nordic Capital Fund VII acquires Britax Childcare from Carlyle Group

Nordic Capital also owns consumer products company Thule.

http://www.carlyle.com/Media Room/News Archive/2010/item11776.html

http://www.nordiccapital.com/documents/101122_en.pdf

Hmm. Interesting to see if this affects anything one way or the other.

This article has lots of financial details, for dorks like me.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/34dbfbd6-f5c8-11df-99d6-00144feab49a.html#axzz16DaGF6G9

Hard to say. When Carlyle bought Britax Childcare from Britax Intl., I was concerned that it could be a drawback to be owned by an investment firm. I was pleasantly surprised that the new management was very open and proactive in general. Though many advocates may have expected more in terms of new products, the management that preceeded them was very closed and it was nearly impossible to get any type of information or response during the years after Tom Baloga resigned as president of USA operations.

I suppose it is one of those things where if Britax is doing well, they may be relatively hands-off. If not, they may step in and make changes. Or maybe they have a policy of micro-managing, who knows? I'm sure there will be changes, let's hope they are for the better!

One thing is certain, I am glad it was not sold to a company in the far east, as was the case with Volvo a few months ago. I suppose it still leaves a little more uncertainty than if it had been sold to a dedicated childrens products company. Let's hope they at least have a philosophy of keeping design, manufacturing and customer support in North America and Europe!

CPSDarren said:

Nordic Capital also owns consumer products company Thule.

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Hmm... so does that mean we're going to start to see roof-mounted carseats?

I know sometimes I've thought there could be a market for that!

unityco said:

Hmm... so does that mean we're going to start to see roof-mounted carseats?

Click to expand...

:ROTFLMAO: My kids would probably love that!

In general, these types of acquisitions are made with an incredible amount of debt. IMO, it does impact the ability to spend money on R&D. Your cash flow is used to pay interest.