Claudia Willemsen is finally handing over the baton of Kleertjes.com to Wehkamp. She founded the online children's fashion store in 2003 from her attic room. Meanwhile, Kleertjes.com turns a revenue of about 70 million euros. 'I'm not sad about the sales, I'm just very proud.'
Claudia Willemsen started Kleertjes.com in 2003. She missed Dutch webshops with children's clothes and wanted to offer other mothers the convenience of buying children's clothes online with her business. Her idea turned out to be a great success and with it Kleertjes.com grew to become the largest online store in clothing for babies and children. Willemsen was thus a pioneer and one of the first successful online entrepreneurs.
But to maintain the company's growth, Willemsen decided in 2010 to sell two-thirds of the shares in Kleertjes.com. Investment companies Comnaar Investments and Mentha Capital both took a 33.3 percent equity stake in the business. Willemsen: "That deal stipulated that I - along with my colleague - would stay on for another five to seven years or so, and then make a big exit.
Getting ready to sell
That "five to seven years" eventually became 11 years, because Willemsen, Comnaar and Mentha saw opportunities all the while to make their businesses better sales-ready. 'We took several years to improve almost all processes, which meant we were now ready for sales. Together with our deal advisors, we started actively approaching parties, which got the ball rolling.
The search for the right buyer began back in 2020. The three shareholders engaged EY for M&A advice and Deloitte for tax matters. After drafting the information memorandum, both strategic and large private equity parties were approached with the proposition. With as many as 20 interested buyers, there was a lot of attention for the online children's fashion store, which now records revenues of about 70 million euros with about 400 employees.
Exclusive negotiating
'From our perspective, we had a picture of how we wanted to leave the business,' Willemsen explains. 'In particular, we looked at how we wanted to leave the staff behind and what the buyer intended to do with Kleertjes.com. Not only did the brand name have to remain, but we also wanted to keep the individuality and charm of the business. This helped enormously in the search for the suitable takeover candidate. Although the takeover price often plays a big role in negotiations, in our case it was not the most important factor.
Ultimately, Wehkamp will take over 100 percent of the shares in Kleertjes.com. I'm not sad about the sale, I'm just very proud. It was also about time after eleven years in the shareholder role.' It was remarkable that the e-commerce player from Zwolle entered the negotiations exclusively. Willemsen: 'Wehkamp also wanted to negotiate with us, but from their side it was a requirement that we chose exclusively for them. We said 'yes' to that at the time.
Takeover advice
After years of intense working weeks, it is time for Willemsen to move on to a new phase. She is a shareholder and co-owner of two more businesses, including women's clothing store Hippe Kippe. With the sale of Kleertjes.com, she has gained an enormous fortune. 'I need to do smart things with that. I'm taking some time for my family first, we'll see if I'm going to help young entrepreneurs with my knowledge, skills and capital.'
According to the top female entrepreneur, people underestimate how much time and energy such a business sale takes. The process of Kleertjes.com, from the initial meeting with takeover advisor EY to the final signature on the sales contract took at least a year. 'If you want to sell a business, do it in a well-considered way, but don't make any rash decisions. If a party approaches you for a potential takeover, there are definitely more interested parties in the takeover market. So don't go head-to-head with the first best buyer. And don't be afraid to spend money on good acquisition advice.'
