HEMA, the Dutch variety-store chain, turns 100 on 4 November 2026. In that century it has had almost every kind of owner: a department store, a listed retail group, private equity, a billionaire’s investment company, its own creditors and, since February 2026, a single family. It is a compact lesson in how an owner’s time horizon shapes a company.
A century of HEMA owners
- 1926: The first store opened on 4 November 1926 on the Kalverstraat in Amsterdam. Its founders, Arthur Isaac and Leo Meyer, were directors of the department store De Bijenkorf, which financed the venture, according to MT/Sprout. HEMA stood for Hollandsche Eenheidsprijzen Maatschappij Amsterdam, roughly “Dutch uniform-price company”, because goods sold at a few fixed prices.
- 1940s: During the German occupation, Jewish staff were dismissed. FashionUnited reports that 201 of about 300 did not survive the war.
- 2000s: HEMA belonged to Vendex KBB, a retail group that a KKR-led consortium took private in 2004 and later renamed Maxeda.
- 2007: Maxeda sold HEMA to the London buyout firm Lion Capital. The price was not disclosed; press reports put it at about €1.1 billion.
- 2018: Lion Capital sold HEMA, including its debt, to Ramphastos, the investment company of the Dutch billionaire Marcel Boekhoorn.
- 2020: In June, after talks with Boekhoorn failed, the bondholders took over all the shares, cutting bond debt from about €750 million to about €300 million, according to FashionUnited. In December, NOS reported that the van Eerd family, owners of the supermarket chain Jumbo, and the Dutch investor Parcom had finalised a deal to take HEMA over. FashionUnited put the price at about €440 million.
- 2026: The family’s company, Mississippi Ventures, bought Parcom’s remaining 50%. The deal closed in February; the price was not disclosed.
Fund horizon, family horizon
A buyout fund usually borrows to buy and plans to sell within a few years, and the debt sits on the company. MT/Sprout linked HEMA’s early losses under Lion Capital to the loans that financed the purchase. In December 2020, HEMA’s then director told NOS that annual interest would fall from about €50 million to €9 million under the new owners, with debt refinanced by Dutch banks.
A family can accept a slower payback. Since 2021, HEMA says, its sales, volumes and profits have grown, helped by investment in products and stores. The companies also say HEMA and Jumbo will stay separate brands that cooperate, for example on purchasing, rather than merge. That is a holding choice: own two businesses side by side.
A fair caveat
HEMA’s deal prices since 2007 were not officially disclosed; the figures above are press reports. HEMA’s recovery also reflects lower interest costs and the end of pandemic closures, not only a change of owner.
What to watch
- Whether HEMA and Jumbo stay separate or move closer, through joint buying or shop-in-shops.
- How the family funds store renovations: from profits or new debt.
- Whether more Dutch families buy brands back from funds.
Questions to bring to your advisors
If we buy a company from a fund, how much of its debt do we inherit, and how long do we mean to hold it? Who in the family will oversee it? These are questions to bring to your advisors, not advice.
