Cavendish Corporate Finance, the specialist sell-side M&A firm, has advised on the sale of OKA Direct Ltd (“OKA”) to Investindustrial, the European investment fund.

Founded in 1999, OKA is renowned for creating interior designed homes featuring curated collections of British designed furniture and home accessories.  At the time of sale, the shareholders included funds managed by FPE Capital, which acquired a majority stake in the company in 2007.

OKA is renowned for creating interior designed homes featuring curated collections of British designed furniture and home accessories. The company has a strong direct to consumer offering, with a well-established online platform supported by a retail portfolio of 14 strategically placed showrooms, a successful interior design service, a strong mail order catalogue offering and a complementary trade division.

To enter new markets and accelerate international expansion, OKA will now initiate a renewed investment phase in technology to further strengthen its customers’ digital experience and retail journey.

The acquisition of OKA is part of Investindustrial’s selective investments in high-growth companies in the small and lower mid-market, building on its prior expertise in luxury brands and homewares. Investindustrial is a leading European group of independently managed investment, holding and advisory companies with €6.5 billion of raised fund capital and has previously invested in well-known brands such as Aston Martin, Ducati and B&B Italia.

Cavendish Corporate Finance advised the shareholders of OKA and has an extensive track record in luxury brands, homeware and ecommerce. Recent high-profile deals include advising on the sales of British fashion brand Radley to Freshstream, the Brenninkmeijer family fund; luxury fashion brand New & Lingwood to US Equity firm Pop Capital; subscription wine retailer Naked Wines to Majestic Wine; and European online fashion and merchandising group EMP to Sycamore Partners.

The Cavendish team was led by Jonathan Buxton, Cavendish Head of Consumer, and Jon Edirmanasinghe.

Jonathan Buxton, Partner and Head of Consumer at Cavendish, commented:

“We were delighted to advise the OKA founders, FPE Capital, and other shareholders on the sale to Investindustrial. Congratulations to CEO Peter Taylor and team! It was a pleasure to work with them and the deal with Investindustrial should be amazing for the business. Thanks to the strength of the team we were able to run a text-book process, including preparing the business very thoroughly for sale, which meant we could run a hard competitive process all the way through to completion.”

Jon Edirmanasinghe, Partner, commented:

“As a growing luxury brand with direct distribution channels and a focus on online retail, OKA has huge potential both in the U.K. and overseas markets. Investindustrial’s track record with luxury brands speaks for itself and they should be a great fit for the business going forward! It was a pleasure working with all parties involved and this deal highlights Cavendish’s international reach and expertise in managing exits for both founder shareholders and private equity funds.”