M&A Awards 2026: O-Group B.V. (Omoda) acquires Wehkamp Retail Group Holding B.V. (Best Deal Mid-Market 2026)

Brief description deal / Deal outline  

Omoda Brands, a family-run fashion company and one of the Netherlands’ largest online retailers, acquired Wehkamp Retail Group Holding B.V., the company behind Wehkamp and kleertjes.com, from Apax Partners. The acquisition brings Wehkamp back into Dutch ownership after eleven years. The combined group has annual customer sales of approximately €600 million and becomes one of the largest fashion and lifestyle retailers in the Netherlands, with four complementary brands: 

Assem: premium footwear and fashion 

Omoda: mid-to-premium fashion and footwear 

Wehkamp: broad mid-market offering across fashion, living, beauty and other lifestyle categories 

kleertjes.com: platform for children’s fashion and related products 

Why should this deal win the Award for Best Deal Mid-Cap 2026?   

The acquisition combines one of the country’s most respected omnichannel fashion retailers with one of the most recognised names in Dutch e-commerce. Together, the four brands cover a broad spectrum of the consumer market, from premium footwear and fashion to the broad mid-market, children’s fashion, beauty and home and living, while each brand keeps its own positioning and identity. 

The deal strengthens the competitive position of Dutch retail in a market increasingly dominated by international platforms such as Zalando, About You and Amazon. Scale has become essential to fund investment in technology, AI, logistics, personalisation, data and customer experience. By combining Omoda’s entrepreneurial culture, brand-management capabilities and physical store network with Wehkamp’s digital reach, technology platform and state-of-the-art logistics infrastructure, the transaction creates a scaled Dutch omnichannel platform. The timing is notable: in a retail sector disrupted by inflation, rising customer acquisition costs and global marketplaces, Omoda chose growth over defence. 

The transaction is highly distinctive because a comparatively smaller, family-owned company acquired a significantly larger, private equity-owned platform: Wehkamp generated approximately twice the revenue of Omoda. This required exceptional strategic conviction and a bespoke transaction and financing structure, including a Dutch family office as minority investor. It is the logical next step in Omoda’s well-executed consolidation strategy, which earlier included Van den Assem, Shuz, Leurink and Mijn Modewereld. 

The transaction also returns Wehkamp to long-term Dutch family ownership. Together, Omoda and Wehkamp represent more than two centuries of retail heritage: Omoda evolved over 150 years from a regional family business into a leading omnichannel retailer, while Wehkamp transformed itself from a mail-order company founded some 70 years ago into one of the pioneers of Dutch e-commerce. Under Omoda’s ownership, Wehkamp and kleertjes.com retain their identity while gaining access to a broader group platform and new opportunities for growth. 

Finally, the combination creates mutually reinforcing benefits that neither business could have captured independently, with cost and revenue synergies across IT, fulfilment, e-commerce, AI, assortment, purchasing and data. Completing the transaction required the alignment of an unusually broad group of stakeholders and a complex financing process. Its strategic ambition, complex execution, bespoke structure and significance for Dutch retail make it an outstanding candidate for this Award. 

What is the impact of this deal for the company?   

The transaction creates one of the largest Dutch fashion and lifestyle retail groups, with combined annual customer sales of approximately €600 million. Wehkamp contributes its digital reach, loyal customer base, e-commerce and technology platform, broad category expertise and highly automated logistics operation; Omoda adds its brand-led retail culture, strong physical store network, expertise in premium fashion and a proven track record in acquiring and integrating businesses. 

The increased scale strengthens the group’s ability to invest in technology, data, logistics, marketing and customer experience, and creates opportunities to share infrastructure, optimise fulfilment, expand categories and increase purchasing power. Wehkamp gains a committed, long-term Dutch owner, while Omoda accelerates its transformation into a leading Dutch omnichannel fashion and lifestyle group. 

What is the impact of this deal for the direct stakeholders?   

Employees of both companies become part of a stronger and more future-proof organisation, with broader career opportunities across e-commerce, technology, data, buying, marketing, logistics and physical retail. Customers benefit from a broader proposition across fashion, footwear, children’s products, beauty and home and living, combining digital convenience with personal service in stores. 

Jan Baan and Martijn Hagman jointly lead the combined organisation as co-CEOs until the end of 2027, and Erik-Jan Mares chairs the new Supervisory Board. For Apax Partners, the transaction concludes an eleven-year ownership period with the transfer of Wehkamp to a strategic owner with a clear long-term vision. For Omoda’s family shareholders, it is a transformational step in the development of their 150-year-old family business, facilitated by the participation of a Dutch family office as minority investor. 

What is the impact of this deal on society?   

The transaction returns Wehkamp to Dutch ownership and creates a scaled, locally owned alternative to large international e-commerce platforms. This strengthens competition, preserves consumer choice and reduces the risk of the Dutch online retail market becoming dominated by a small number of international players. 

The deal also retains strategically important retail, digital, data and fulfilment capabilities and employment in the Netherlands, including in Zwolle, where Wehkamp’s head office and automated distribution centre are located, in Zierikzee and in the Omoda and Assem store network. More broadly, it shows the continued relevance of long-term Dutch entrepreneurship: a family-owned business taking responsibility for the future of a considerably larger and nationally recognised retail platform. 

What was most complex about this deal?   

The most distinctive complexity was the transformational relative size of the transaction. Omoda acquired a substantially larger business, which required a bespoke structure that kept the combined group’s capital structure sustainable, with sufficient headroom for integration, investment and growth. 

Securing the financing was one of the most critical elements. Wehkamp was financed by a consortium of banks, all of which had to support the transaction and roll over their financing into the combined group, each with its own credit process. Given the relatively high leverage, every bank had to gain comfort with the combined business plan, cash flow generation and the deliverability of synergies. The financing combined capital from Omoda’s family shareholders, a new Dutch family office minority investor and the roll-over of existing bank debt. 

In addition, the synergy case had to be substantiated without overstating its timing, four brands and two operating models had to be brought together while preserving their identities, including the future allocation of logistics between Zierikzee and Zwolle, and a broad stakeholder group (Apax, both management teams, Omoda’s family shareholders, the minority investor, the banks, employees, works councils and regulators) had to be aligned while preserving transaction certainty throughout.

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