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nexeye

Sector Consumer & Private Label
Year invested 2017
Location Benelux
Status Realised

nexeye is the value-for-money leader in the North-West European optical retail market operating under the Hans Anders, eyes + more and Direkt Optik labels with group headquarters in the Netherlands.

Visit nexeye.com

Overview

nexeye provides affordable, high-quality eye and hearing care to customers across 719 stores in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Sweden, offering a range of private label and branded products in a market with long term macro-growth drivers.

Under our ownership, nexeye pursued an organic and buy and build growth strategy, championing a value-for-money offering for customers. We generated proceeds of c.€481 million by the time of its exit in 2024 with 2.1x MM.

How we added value

During our investment, we transformed the business from a local optical discounter to the value-for-money leader in the North-Weste European optical retail market. We supported the acquisition of eyes + more in 2019, adding Germany as a key growth market, and more than doubled eyes + more’s store footprint in Germany.

We invested in new stores, refurbished the existing network, strengthened the team and transformed the digital infrastructure to a best-in-class setup. We also recruited and partnered with the CEO and CFO through our Business Leaders Network. Finally, we re-focused the business model towards digitally generated appointments, accelerated the company's digital marketing and CRM capabilities and drove store productivity through digital planning.

By working together to the maximum extent under the common nexeye banner and sharing knowledge and resources with each other, we aim to accelerate the growth of our current and future labels, creating value for all our stakeholders.

Bart van den Nieuwenhof , CEO, nexeye

03:27

Track record

nexeye

nexeye CEO, Bart van den Nieuwenhof, discusses how the partnership with 3i helped nexeye transform from a discount optical brand to a leading omni-channel retail platform.

Watch video