In January 2021, Endless acquired Wonder (formerly Amscan International), a market leading international designer, manufacturer, distributor and omnichannel retailer of party products and supplies, from US parent company Party City Holdco Inc.
The investment added another leading consumer business to the Endless portfolio, with current and past investments including The Works, American Golf, Victoria Plum, Kiddicare and bathstore.
THE OPPORTUNITY
Wonder is a global, vertically integrated celebrations powerhouse with the capability to design, manufacture and source products that meet ever-growing consumer demand with unparalleled speed, accuracy and quality. Under ownership of its US parent, the business had turnover of £175m and employed approximately 1,000 people throughout its global operations, which included the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Malaysia.
In 2020 Party City decided to rationalise its business and focus on their large retail store footprint in the US, divesting the rest of the Group which they considered to be non-core. The Wonder management team sought an investor to support a management buy-out and chose Endless as their partner as a result of our carve-out expertise and track record with consumer product businesses.
THE IMPACT SO FAR
Following the acquisition and carve-out from Party City, Endless has worked closely with the existing management team to recruit additional skills and experience into the business to match Wonder’s scale and growth ambitions. This has included a new Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operations Officer.
Endless has also supported Wonder with its ‘buy and build’ M&A strategy, with three bolt-on acquisitions in Luftballon-Markt, Ginger Ray and Party King completed in July 2021, September 2021 and September 2022 respectively. Through both organic growth and the impact of the bolt-on acquisitions undertaken, revenue of the Wonder Group is now more than £300 million.
We have invested heavily in the businesses infrastructure, including an £8m investment in a state-of-the-art automated warehouse robotic system and distribution centre reconfiguration as part of its ongoing national and international growth strategy.
In November 2022, Amscan International rebranded to become The Wonder Group. The name Wonder truly reflects the dynamic, global, multi-channel, multi-product group of leading brands and businesses the company is today and the rebrand is a key element of the group’s continued implementation of its global strategic growth plan.
