Funds advised by Bregal Unternehmerkapital (“BU”) have signed definitive agreements to sell their majority stake in MEDIA Central Group (“MEDIA Central”), a European leader in drive-to-store marketing, to Flipp Operations Inc. (“Flipp”), a Canadian technology company and leader in digital merchandising. Flipp is backed by its majority shareholder, Truelink Capital, an American private equity firm. The combination will create a global market leader for digital drive-to-store marketing, helping retailers and brands to increase customer demand. The partnership aims to combine the market-leading positions in Europe and North America, and the expertise of both companies. The new group will operate in 27 global markets, and serve thousands of blue-chip retailers and brands, reaching more than 400 million shoppers worldwide.
Transformation into the leading provider of drive-to-store marketing solutions in Europe
Since its investment in 2019 and together with founder Stefan Hamacher and the management team, BU developed MEDIA Central from a local German service provider for the distribution of marketing leaflets into an international digital market leader for drive-to-store marketing solutions. Today, MEDIA Central offers data-driven 360° solutions with its leading classic and digital business units, serving major retailers and brands across Europe, Australia and Latin America. Shoppers are motivated to visit and buy in-store through targeted and bespoke communication.
The deep industry experience of the management team and its excellent leadership skills contributed significantly to MEDIA Central's impressive growth. The digital business of the group was also continuously developed through acquisitions of Offerista Group (2021), Yagora (2022) and ShopFully (2023). The succession of MEDIA Central’s founder was successfully concluded through the gradual transition of Stefan Hamacher from his management role into the advisory board in 2022. As part of this process, Ingo Wienand became CEO of MEDIA Central. Following the digital expansion, he continued to lead the business as CEO Classic, together with Stefano Portu, CEO Digital. Following the combination with Flipp, both executives will continue to hold key management positions in the new group.
Combination with Flipp to become the global market leader in drive-to-store marketing
The combination of MEDIA Central and Flipp brings together the leading market positions and expertise of both companies to create unparalleled value for customers and shoppers. Flipp helps major retailers and brands in the U.S. and Canada to enhance their digital merchandising by creating and distributing local promotions to millions of engaged shoppers. For over a decade, Flipp and MEDIA Central have led the analog-to-digital transition. Their combined platforms will create an advanced digital merchandising network and shopper dataset, helping retailers and brands connect with shoppers. By integrating their networks, the two companies will serve complementary audiences, extend their global reach, accelerate innovation, and enhance value for clients on a global scale.
Stefan Hamacher, founder of MEDIA Central, says: "Through the partnership with BU in 2019 and the significant investments in the following years, we were able to jointly develop MEDIA Central first into a European market leader and now, through the combination with Flipp, into a leading global provider of drive-to-store marketing solutions. During this time, the handover of my responsibilities to the new management team was also carefully managed. Together with our new partner, Flipp, we see excellent growth opportunities and look forward to the next chapter in MEDIA Central's success story.”
Jan-Daniel Neumann, Co-Founder and Partner at Bregal Unternehmerkapital, adds: “We have been a partner of MEDIA Central and its founder Stefan Hamacher for more than five years and are proud to have supported the company on its transformational journey to becoming a leading drive-to-store marketing specialist with significant international and digital net revenue share. The combination with Flipp is the logical next step for the group and will offer ample growth opportunities in the future.”
Luke Myers, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Truelink Capital, reflected on the transaction and noted, “Through the combination of Flipp and MEDIA Central, we will form a highly attractive market leader, with complementary product offerings and global reach. The financial strength of the combined group will allow us to drive innovation and value for our high-quality customer base of international retailers and brands. We are enthusiastic about this partnership and believe there is a bright future ahead for the combined entity.”
The transaction is expected to close in Q4 2024, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
ABOUT FLIPP
Founded in 2007, Flipp is a technology platform that is reinventing the way people plan their weekly shopping trips. The largest retailers and brands in North America use the Flipp Platform to create, curate and distribute digital visual merchandising experiences and savings content to over 100 million high intent shoppers. Households use Flipp as their primary weekly shopping tool to decide what to buy and where to buy. On average, Flipp helps shoppers save $45 on their weekly groceries, home improvement goods, electronics, pharmacy, apparel, pets supplies and more. For more information, visit corp.flipp.com.
ABOUT MEDIA CENTRAL GROUP
The MEDIA Central Group is a European market leader in drive-to-store marketing solutions. The Group unites the leading specialist for data-based 360° offer communication, MEDIA Central, Europe's leading drive-to-store technology platform, ShopFully, together with the experts for digital offer communication, Offerista Group, and the data science experts for the moment of purchase decision, Yagora. It is represented by over approximately 900 employees in 21 locations across Europe, Australia, and Latin America, and currently serves top retailers and brands in 24 countries from all industries.
ABOUT TRUELINK CAPITAL
Truelink Capital is a middle-market private equity firm based in Los Angeles. Truelink pairs deep industry experience in the industrials and technology-enabled services sectors with a commitment to building partnerships that drive long-term value through an operationally focused strategy. Truelink partners with management, corporate sellers, and founders to accelerate growth through the execution of strategic initiatives and transformative add-on acquisitions.
ABOUT BREGAL UNTERNEHMERKAPITAL
Bregal Unternehmerkapital (“BU”) is a leading investment firm with offices in Zug, Munich, and Milan. With €7.0bn in capital raised to date, BU is the largest mid-cap investor headquartered in the DACH region. The funds advised by BU invest in mid-sized companies based in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Austria. With the mission to be the partner of choice for entrepreneurs and family-owned businesses, BU seeks to partner with market leaders and “hidden champions” with strong management teams and breakout potential. Since its founding in 2015, the funds advised by BU have invested over €3.5 billion in more than 100 companies with more than 28,000 employees. Thereby, more than 8,200 jobs have been created. BU supports entrepreneurs and families as a strategic partner to develop, internationalize, and digitize their businesses, while helping them generate sustainable value on a responsible basis with the next generation in mind. For more information, please visit https://www.bregal.ch/en/.
Media Contact Bregal Unternehmerkapital
Ira Wülfing / Florian Bergmann
IWK Communication Partner
bregal@iwk-cp.com
+49 89 2000 30 30
Media Contact Flipp
Gaby Hui (Flipp)
gaby@labcreo.com
Media Contact MEDIA Central
Selin Castaldo (MEDIA Central Classic)
selin.castaldo@media-central.de
Laura Sassi (MEDIA Central Digital)
l.sassi@shopfully.com
