In 2018, the total number of the top ten M&A transactions reached 7.866 billion yuan. Among them, Qumei Home took the lead with a single amount of 4 billion yuan, KUKA Home accelerated investment acquisition in the capital market, and its five M&A transactions ranked among the top, which is undoubtedly the most active home business in 2018.

No.1 Qumei Home

· M&A amount: 4.063 billion yuan

· Target company: Ekornes ASA

Qumei Home announced on May 23 that Qumei Home and Huatai Zijin intend to acquire at least 55.57% of the issued shares of Norwegian listed company Ekornes ASA, up to 100% of its shares. Based on 100% of the shares, the amount of the acquisition reached 4.063 billion yuan.

Ekornes is a world-renowned manufacturer of rocking chairs, and its Stressless brand is known to consumers around the world as “the most comfortable chair in the world”.

Ekornes has 21 sales companies, 9 factories and more than 4,000 retail outlets around the world, which will help Qumei increase production capacity and bring global channel resources. Qumei's current overseas revenue ratio is only 0.27%. It is expected that this ratio will be improved after mergers and acquisitions, and Qumei's core strategy of global expansion will be realized.

It is understood that Ekornes achieved net profit of approximately RMB 290 million and RMB 263 million in 2016 and 2017, while Qumei Home Annual Report showed that net profit for 2016 and 2017 was 185 million and 246 million. Ekornes' high profitability is expected to result in a substantial increase in net profit for Qumei.

In order to complete the acquisition of Ekornes ASA, Qumei Home intends to raise 2.5 billion yuan publicly.

No.2 KUKA Home

· M&A amount: 1.38 billion yuan

· Target company: CIMEN

KUKA Home, which started with sofa products, completed its IPO listing at the end of 2016 and currently has a market capitalization of nearly 20 billion. CIMEN is a soft bed as its core business. As the leading brand of upholstered furniture, KUKA Home has taken a big acquisition of another software home faucet. First, it is interested in CIMEN's capacity advantage and channel resources in the mattress field: CIMEN's more than 1,450 stores will accelerate the integration of KUKA's domestic channels; Its own big home strategy is intended to complement the shortcomings of the industry and improve the soft bed business. At present, sofa revenue accounts for 55% of Gujia's total revenue, while soft beds only account for less than 14%. The acquisition of CIMEN will help KUKA expand its soft bed product line to create a full line of upholstered furniture.

KUKA Home acquired no less than 23% of the mattress industry giant CIMEN in October, and the purchase amount is not less than 1.38 billion yuan.

No.3 KUKA Home

· M&A amount: 65 million euros

· Target company: Natuzzi 

From the beginning of 2018, KUKA began to globalize. On January 10th, KUKA Home and Natuzzi intend to establish Natuzzi Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. in China to operate the retail network of Natuzzi Italia and Natuzzi Editions. KUKA Home has invested 65 million euros in its own funds and holds 51% of the joint venture company.

Natuzzi specializes in high-end sofa furniture and is the largest furniture brand in Italy. KUKA's acquisition will introduce two high-end and mid-to-high-end sofa brand collections. In the development of multi-brand strategy, KUKA chose to invest in high-end sofa brands in line with the growing market demand for new middle class consumption, to seize new growth points.

No.4 KUKA Home

· M&A amount: 424 million yuan

· Target company: DeLandis home

Gu Jia’s acquisition strategy has continued from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. On November 13, Gujia Home's subsidiary Gujia Bedding intends to acquire a 51% stake in Quanzhou DeLandis Home for 424 million yuan through equity transfer and capital increase.

DeLandis Home manufactures and manufactures multiple product lines based on sponges, latex and mattresses. Similar to the acquisition of Xilinmen's strategy, Gujia's acquisition of DeLandis home is still intended to complement the mattress business shortcomings. Compared with Xilinmen, DeLandis has a bright eye in the export of mattresses: DeLandis' products are sold in more than 80 countries and are stationed in Macy's, Amazon and other online and offline stores. Relatively mature overseas sales channels are also a major driver of Gu's acquisition.

At the end of the year, the move of Gu Jia’s continued large-scale expansion has once again aroused industry attention. According to Gu Jia, “This acquisition can strengthen the company’s mattress business and make up for the shortage of mattress export areas. At the same time, DeLandis home sponge and latex production line Can meet some of the company's needs."

No.5 KUKA HOME

· M&A amount: 77.276 million Australian dollars

· Target company: Nick Scali

On March 27, KUKA announced that KUKA Home Investment Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of KUKA Home, invested 77.276,311 Australian dollars in equity transfer, and obtained 13.63% equity, becoming the second largest shareholder.

KUKA's fourth acquisition of the furniture retailer Nick Scali in 2018. The company was listed in Australia in 2004 and is positioned in the middle and high end, mainly living room and dining room furniture. According to the report, the company achieved revenue of 233 million Australian dollars (about 1.127 billion yuan) in fiscal year 2017, and net profit of 0.37 Australian dollars (about 180 million yuan), with good revenue.

With the acquisition of KUKA, once again supplementing the high-end product line, it will use the offline channels owned by Nick Scali to penetrate the Australian market and further improve the global layout of the family.

No.6 Tubao

· M&A amount: HK$418 million

· Target company: Nature Home

On April 23, Tubao announced that it plans to invest 418 million Hong Kong, China dollars (about 336 million yuan) to acquire 18.39% of Nature Home.

Tubao focuses on the decorative sheet business. In the total revenue of 4.1 billion yuan in 2017, the decorative sheet contributed 2.9 billion yuan, but the floor was less than 300 million, accounting for only 7.06% of the total revenue. Nature Home is a well-known brand in the flooring industry. In 2017, the floor sales amount exceeded 1.9 billion yuan. According to Tubao's response, the acquisition of the flooring brand enterprise Nature Home is in line with the company's strategy of asset or capital integration around the flooring and children's home industry, which has a guiding role for the company's flooring business.

Affected by the macro environment, the export business of Tubao is limited, and the export volume has decreased. The proportion of hardcover houses in the core market has been increasing, which is also unfavorable for the performance of Tubao. Faced with the coldening of the market environment, Tubao located in the upper reaches of the industrial chain focuses on improving channel construction and developing the entire industry chain. On the other hand, through the acquisition of mature brands, look for new revenue growth points outside the decorative sheet.

No.7 KUKA HOME

· M&A amount: 4156.50 Euro

· Target company: Rolf Benz AG & Co.KG

KUKA Investment Management Co., Ltd. purchased a 99.92% stake in Rolf Benz AG & Co.KG for EUR 45.65 million.

Founded in 1964, RolfBenz is a well-known German luxury upholstered furniture brand. It is reported that more than 80% of Rolf Benz's sales come from the European market. Currently, there are no independent brand stores in China. All sofa products are produced by Rolf Benz's own two plants in Nagold, Germany.

The third overseas acquisition in KUKA era, in addition to re-encoding the high-end sofa product sequence and improving the international layout, is also intended to drive the overall R&D and design strength of KUKA, focusing on increasing the added value of products in the upstream of the industrial chain.

No.8 Morris Group

· M&A amount: $35 million

· Target company: Jennifer Convertibles Inc.

On July 4, Morris Group announced that it will acquire the entire share capital of Jennifer Convertible Inc. for $35 million and conclude a deal on August 31.

Jennifer Convertible is an old American furniture chain that radiates mainly in the eastern United States and currently has 17 retail stores. Morris Group still insisted on the acquisition of Jennifer Convertible's past two consecutive years of losses. It can be seen that Morris Group has begun a new round of strategic layout after completing the transformation from reliant OEM to OBM-based business model, hoping to establish its own retail channel.

The Morris Group is looking at the solid sales network owned by Jennifer Convertible. It is hoped that this acquisition will continue to push up the downstream smile curve and achieve the next stage of growth.

No.9 Markor Home

· M&A amount: $25 million

· Target company: Rowe Fine Furniture

On March 20th, VIVET INC., a subsidiary of Markor International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Markor Home, successfully acquired a 100% stake in Rowe Fine Furniture Holding Corp. for a purchase price of $25 million.

Rowe is a US mid- to high-end custom software furniture manufacturer with two brands, Rowe and Robin Bruce. Markor Home's acquisition is intended to optimize global capacity allocation, further reducing production and operating costs. At the same time, the acquisition of Rowe is also the layout under its multi-brand strategy, filling the gap in the company's high-end custom sofa business. The custom sofa business owned by the Rowe brand is expected to complement the design of Markor's wholly-owned subsidiary A.R.T. and the production capacity of Markor's home, introducing newer designs and technologies to achieve resource sharing.

No.10 SEAGULL

· M&A amount: 60.5 million yuan

· Target company: Yakepoluo

In September, SEAGULL's resident announced that it would acquire a 55% stake in Guangdong Yakeboo Cabinet Co., Ltd. by paying cash, and the purchase price should not exceed 60.5 million yuan.

SEAGULL lives in the main bathroom and extends its business to wood, wall-mounted bathroom and smart home. The acquisition is seen as a cross-border attempt by SEAGULL to capture the entire house.

According to SEAGULL, the acquisition is intended to extend the components of the bathroom to the kitchen space through the design, production, sales, installation and after-sales advantages of the Jacques custom cabinet service platform, and to expand the customized kitchen business for the company's future. Lay a solid foundation. From this point of view, SEAGULL has a clear purpose and is intended to increase the cabinet production line and thus enter the whole house customization field.

（Source: JJgle.com）