Sweden’s Espresso House sold by UK owners to Norway fund
COFFEE chain Espresso House, known as the “Starbucks of Sweden”, has been sold by its UK private equity owners Palamon Capital Partners to a Norwegian private equity fund, it was announced yesterday.
The popular coffee haunt, which has 120 coffee bars dotted around Sweden, was snapped up by Norwegian fund Herkules Private Equity III after posting annual revenue increases of 30 per cent to kr560m (£52.3m) under Palamon’s ownership.
Since 2006, the chain has grown from a small 22 outlet coffee chain in the south of Sweden to expand rapidly into the capital Stockholm and the rest of the country.
“For us, this investment has returned 3.4x on invested capital,” Palamon partner Dan Mytnik said.
Palamon, which is based in King Street in Piccadilly, manages around €1.1bn of funds.