Forte Capital / Troy Companies
Raising financing for the acquisition of Wow! Stuff
- In Q1 2025, Avaxa was engaged by Forte Capital Participaties (“Forte”) to support its portfolio company, Troy Companies (“Troy”), in raising debt financing for the acquisition of Wow! Stuff (“WOW!”), a UK-based developer and distributor of innovative and tech-based toys.
- WOW! is internationally recognised for its award-winning product innovations, including Puppetronics and RealFX, and mainly serves fast-moving retailers in the UK and the US. In 2024, WOW! generated approximately EUR 14.4m in revenue.
- The acquisition is highly complementary to Troy’s platform, offering cross-sell potential across geographies and retail formats, and further strengthening its portfolio of owned and licensed consumer brands.
- The consortium of banks (Rabobank, ING and ABN AMRO) once again supported Troy’s buy-and-build strategy by providing the required financing through a combination of an accordion draw and an increase in the existing asset-based facility.
- Avaxa acted as debt advisor to Forte and Troy. Our role included updating the financial forecast model, defining the optimal financing structure, preparing the accordion request, coordinating the lender process, supporting negotiations, and managing the LMA documentation through to closing.
- The financing package was successfully closed in March 2025 and was provided by Rabobank, ING, ABN AMRO, and their respective ABF arms, further enabling Troy’s continued growth in the European consumer goods sector.
