Strategic Value Partners, LLC (together with its affiliates, “SVP”), a global alternative investment firm, and Bjelin Group have announced the signing of an agreement whereby funds managed by SVP will make a €200 million preferred equity investment in Bjelin Group to facilitate its long-term growth.
Bjelin Group AB is fully owned by the Pervan family and its assets comprise a 51 percent ownership stake in Välinge Group and a 100 percent ownership stake in Bjelin Industries. Forty-nine percent of the shares of Välinge Group are owned by KIRKBI Invest A/S and Välinge Group management.
Välinge Group has a licensing business for flooring and furniture applications (Välinge Innovation AB) and an industrial business with large scale production of flooring with Woodura® surface technology and furniture in Sweden and Croatia. Bjelin Industries is a veneer, flooring, and furniture manufacturing business with production facilities in Croatia.
Bjelin Group AB will acquire all shares in Välinge’s industrial business, which will be merged with Bjelin Industries. The acquisition is expected to be completed during the first quarter of 2025, pending customary closing conditions and governmental approval. Funds managed by SVP will make a €200 million preferred equity investment in Bjelin Group to finance this acquisition and provide capital for additional major investments in Woodura® and veneer production. The Pervan family will maintain an ownership stake of 97% in Bjelin Group AB.
Välinge Innovation AB anticipates that it will seek a public listing at the appropriate time as the potential growth of Woodura® flooring is expected to benefit Välinge’s license revenues.
“Our partnership with SVP is more than a financial investment. Bjelin Industries has a key relationship with SVP’s portfolio company, Pfleiderer, a leading manufacturer of high-quality wood-based products including HDF which is used as a core in our Woodura® flooring, laminates for kitchen, furniture, and construction applications. We are excited about the potential to expand the collaboration between Pfleiderer and Bjelin with a wide range of potential commercial and technical cooperation opportunities. Fredrik Alfredsson, who has a long international experience within the flooring business, will be appointed CEO of Bjelin Group,” said Darko Pervan, chairman and founder of Bjelin Group.
“During the past seven years we have been involved in large scale Woodura® production, and a major part of our license revenues have been invested to develop and commercialize this sustainable and competitive flooring technology. Välinge and Bjelin have invested about €500 million to build large-scale production and marketing capabilities and to secure the oak material which is used as a surface in floors with Woodura® technology. This has provided a lot of new knowledge and patents. Our work to scale up the technology is now complete, and we are convinced that our industrial group combined with Bjelin Industries will be very successful. We believe that this will increase our license revenues and will give a very good long-term return on our investment,” said Niclas Håkansson, CEO of Välinge Innovation AB.