RFS Holland Holding, owner of Wehkamp.nl, is no longer for sale. The number 1 web shop in the Dutch market has decided it will be better to stay independent. Curious as we are we wonder what has caused this change, knowing they were evaluating the received offers already. Weren’t these offers good enough? Did the recent acquisition of Bol.com by Ahold influence their decision?
Staying independent best for future growth
Interested buyers had to send their bid by January 31st. It’s assumed the result of the auction would be far too low for RFS Holding. At least, this could be one of the major reasons not to continue the sales process. According to Reuters Wehkamp was sold three years ago for about € 500 million and rumors indicated RFS Holding would expect to be able to sell Wehkamp.nl for about € 600 – 750 million.
The official message is that RFS Holding believes it’s best for Wehkamp.nl to stay independent. The recent market orientation gave them a lot of new information, but they claim there was no good option that would give Wehkamp.nl the growth rates they are looking for.
Wehkamp.nl (used to be) the biggest Dutch online store
Wehkamp.nl is with a year turnover of about € 423 million the biggest Dutch e-commerce shop according to the Twinkle100. Their turnover during the first half year, starting from 1 April 2011, was € 267 million already. A double-digit growth is expected to be announced in April. They are followed by Bol.com (€ 318 million) and Albert.nl (Ahold, € 109 million). After the acquisition of Bol.com by Ahold the fight for the number 1 position as the leading e-retailer in the Netherlands has become a lot more exciting.
