About the deal

Korys, the investment company of the Colruyt family with a focus on sustainable investments, invests in Santos.

Santos is an iconic brand and independent Dutch bike manufacturer which builds durable and technically high-quality bikes tailored to the needs of each individual cyclist. Besides custom-built bikes for consumers, Santos also builds patrol bikes for professional organisations. Santos continuously strives to build the best bike with great attention to sustainability: built for life.

Korys is the investment company of the Colruyt family. Today, it has more than EUR 4.5 billion of assets under management. The investment in Santos is perfectly in line with Korys’ investment philosophy, which focuses on consumers who are health conscious and think about their impact on the environment. Korys takes over the investment role from Think2Act, a Belgian based mid-market PE investor.

“Santos will now have access to the knowledge and expertise of the extensive Korys network and we look forward to working with the Santos management on the further development and growth within the organisation” says Thomas De Kempeneer, Investment Director at Korys.

Santos founder Robbert Rutgrink adds: “We have noticed that the demand from abroad is increasing and we see a lot of growth potential. Geographical expansion and a further extension of our range will therefore receive our full attention with the arrival of Korys.”

What we did

Capitalmind Investec advised the shareholders of Santos throughout the sell-side process, with: (i) Drafting marketing materials, (ii) Approaching market, (iii) Price negotiations, (iv) Managing due diligence and (v) Coordinating legal documentation phase.