Modella Capital has purchased Flying Tiger Copenhagen, marking the private equity firm’s latest acquisition on the British high street.
The deal was sealed with Danske Bank and Nordea, the owners of Flying Tiger, on Wednesday, following earlier reports that a transaction was being pursued.
Flying Tiger operates around 1,000 stores worldwide, including 80 locations across the UK, making it a significant addition to Modella’s growing retail portfolio.
The retailer is well known for its quirky homeware and cheap stationery, with a maze-like store layout often compared to that of Scandinavian neighbour Ikea.
The acquisition extends Modella’s international reach, with Flying Tiger running its own stores across 30 European markets and operating franchises in the Philippines, Vietnam and Israel.
Flying Tiger reported turnover of more than 5.2bn Danish krone, equivalent to around £600m, in 2024 and employs thousands of people worldwide.
Joseph Price, managing director of Modella, said: “Flying Tiger Copenhagen is a hugely exciting opportunity for Modella Capital. We are pleased to be investing in its future, and we look forward to working closely with the management team to provide the stability, capital and retail expertise the business needs to fulfil its growth plan.”
John Dueholm, chair of Flying Tiger Copenhagen, said: “Throughout the process, we have been focused on finding the right long-term owner for the business, and we believe Modella Capital is very well placed as the new majority shareholder to support the company’s continued development.”
Flying Tiger’s first store opened in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1995, though the business traces its roots to founders Lennart and Suzanne Lajboschitz’s umbrella-selling operation in the 1980s.
The firm underwent a restructuring in early 2025, placing control into the hands of a coalition led by former chief executive Martin Jermiin, finance chief Christian Kofoed Hertz Jakobsen, and the banks Danske Bank and Nordea.
Flying Tiger is now led by Jens Aarup Mikkelsen as chief executive, and financial advisers had been exploring a potential sale since the start of this year.
Modella has acquired a string of high street retailers in recent years, though it has ended up offloading several of them shortly after purchase.
The firm cited weak consumer confidence and “adverse government fiscal policies” when it moved to wind down both Original Factory Shop and Claire’s Accessories after buying them.
Modella purchased WH Smith’s 480 high street stores for £40m last year, subsequently rebranding them under the TG Jones name, but is now preparing to shut as many as a quarter of those sites in an aggressive overhaul.
The owner has argued this restructuring is necessary to prevent the retailer from falling into bankruptcy, though it has emerged that Modella is charging TG Jones millions of pounds for use of its fictitious brand name.
Modella was originally formed as Tailer Debtco in 2022 before being renamed a year later, and is owned by Hay Wain Group, the family office founded by turnaround specialist Jamie Constable.