Mutares has signed off on the sale of Moeder & Kind B.V., the Dutch mother-and-baby chain that trades as Prénatal, to its sitting chief executive Jochem van Bueren. The transaction was fully financed, with signing and closing taking place simultaneously, and covers only the company’s Netherlands operations.
The business being handed over is no newcomer to the high street. Prénatal has been trading for more than 65 years and operates 34 stores, generating annual revenue of roughly EUR 80 million. With the sale, day-to-day control passes entirely to the incumbent management team.
For the Munich-based holding company, the disposal is the latest move in a deliberate retreat from consumer-facing and retail activities. Mutares is also paring back its automotive exposure, freeing up capital to push into sectors it regards as having stronger growth prospects.
Two Management Buy-Outs in a Single Week
The Prénatal deal is not an isolated event. Only last Friday, Mutares announced a comparable step for its Cimos holding, selling the operation to its existing management, which was backed in that transaction by investor Vero Automotive. In the space of just a few days, the group has passed two portfolio companies directly into the hands of the executives who run them.
That pattern follows the roughly two-week-old completion of the NEM Energy Group sale to Hyundai Heavy Industries Power Systems — a disposal to a large industrial buyer that kicked off the recent run of exits and formed another component of the ongoing portfolio overhaul.
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Buying Spree Runs Alongside the Exits
While several holdings have been offloaded, Mutares has been building elsewhere. The acquisition of AmeriTerpenes LLC was completed about two weeks ago; the US terpene ingredients business, acquired from Symrise, represents annual revenue of around USD 200 million. Roughly three weeks ago the group also wrapped up the purchase of TREPEL Airport Equipment GmbH and MAFI Transport-Systeme GmbH, two mechanical engineering specialists taken over from NDW Maschinenbau Holding GmbH.
The company’s stated focus now rests squarely on Chemicals, Energy, Infrastructure, Logistics and Services. Fitting into that realignment are the transactions of recent weeks: alongside the NEM Energy exit and the AmeriTerpenes purchase, Mutares added a SABIC division more than a month ago, and secured EU regulatory clearance for the Synthomer takeover roughly three weeks back.
Share Price Keeps Sliding
Investors have not greeted the news with any relief. Mutares stock fell 2.8% on Wednesday to EUR 24.75, according to one reading of the session, leaving the shares down 18% since the start of the year. A separate quote put the decline at 2.4%, with the stock at EUR 24.85 and the year-to-date loss at 17%. Market participants have pointed to the Prénatal exit as the trigger for the latest pullback.
The pace of buying and selling shows no sign of easing. Management is moving quickly to clean up legacy holdings while simultaneously absorbing newly acquired businesses — a rapid reshaping of the portfolio that is currently generating noticeable headwinds for the equity.
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