Multititle mailer Potpourri Holdings has been sold to Linsalata Capital Partners, a private equity firm based in Mayfield Heights, OH. The Medfield, MA-based gifts and needlecrafts cataloger had been a portfolio investment of Miami-based HIG Capital. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Potpourri’s executive management team, including president/CEO Jack Rosenfeld, will retain their positions with the $120 million-plus cataloger. Rosenfeld says that Potpourri’s new parent will enable the cataloger to continue to expand by acquisition, seeking companies that market to its core demographic group of middle- and upper-income women ages 40-65. During the past several years, Potpourri has bought such titles as Back in the Saddle, In the Company of Dogs, and The Pyramid Collection. The company owns 10 catalogs in all.
Indeed, Linsalata plans to use Potpourri as a platform for further acquisitions, says David J. Solomon, partner/managing director for Goldsmith Agio Helms, which advised Potpourri on the deal. “Private equity firms allow catalogs companies that started out as entrepreneurs to take the next step through the implementation of more sophisticated operations, such as computerized databases and better fulfillment,” Solomon says.
But Rosenfeld adds that acquisition isn’t responsible for all of Potpourri’s revenue growth of late. Sales are up 10% from last year, he says, due to direct importing of merchandise from Asia and adding more proprietary products to the merchandise mix. For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2003, Rosenfeld is projecting 16% revenue growth.