Legendary Polish furniture company Meble Emilia sold for PLN 115 mln

Polish State Treasury sold a 85-percent stake in Poland’s largest furniture maker, Meble Emilia, to Luxembourg-based private equity fund Griffin Topco II for a total of PLN 115 mln, Polish economic daily Puls Biznesu reported Sept. 21.

Griffin Topco II completed the transaction via its subsidiary company Martel, declared its aim to invest PLN 5 mln into the company’s development over the next 12 months. The investor will take over almost 100,000 sq. m. of property grounds owned by the furniture company. A benefits package was also signed with the Meble Emilia’s labour unions.

The Treasury announced the public tender for Meble Emilia in August 2012. The asking price for the 85-percent stake proposed was PLN 172.3 mln, but was reduced to PLN 115 mln. The other participants of the original tender included Kulczyk Silverstein Properties and a consortium of real estate developers led by Europejskie Centrum Inwestycyjne based in Warsaw.

Meble Emilia was set up in 1976 as a state company and transformed into a limited liability company in November 2010. It currently employs 158 people and specializes in retail sale of furniture and rental of property spaces. Meble Emilia operates through 11 boutiques throughout Poland whose total area exceeds 16,000 sq. m. and is the owner of multiple real estate properties located in and around Warsaw.

Griffin Topco II was set up in November 2011 and is part of Oaktree Capital Group.