Investindustrial, a private equity firm founded by Italian financier Andrea Bonomi, which is also Aston Martin‘s major shareholder (see here a previous post by BeBeez), bought control of Oka, a high-end furniture shops retail chain in UK, co-founded by designers Sue Jones and Lucinda Waterhouse and by Lady Astor, mum of Samantha Cameron, wife of former UK premier.
The news was on the UK press last weekend starting from The Times, adding that Lady Astor has been confirmed as chairwoman of the company and Peter Taylor has been confirmed as ceo.
Investindustrial is said to have paid more than 40 million pounds for Oka, after the company reached 27.8 million pounds in revenues in FY 2017 ended on Jan 31st and after 1.6 million pounds in net profits.
Based in London, in Chelsea, Oka counts 14 shops in the most exclusive corners of UK shopping and is said to have among its shareholders the Aspreay jewellery family, the former chairman of Lloyds Bank, Sir Victor Blank, and the family office of Ian Fleming‘s heirs.
