DENMARK – Less than two years after Tvilum, Denmark’s largest furniture manufacturer, acquired the furniture factory in Kjellerup from Steens Group, the company is closing down production.

After laying of 42 employees a few months ago at one of the group’s two factories in the region. Now the remaining 55 employees at the factory will suffer the same fate. According to information from Midtjyllands Avis.

It concerns one of Tvilum’s  factories in the town of Kjellerup between Silkeborg and Viborg, which the company took over in connection with the acquisition of the company Steen Group in 2021.

According to Kjeld Nielsen, Managing Director of the Tvilum Group, the closure is due to a combination of poor market conditions.

The factory in Kjellerup produces MDF products and pine furniture and has seen demand fall as a result of rising raw material prices. In addition, Brexit and an associated decline in the British market have played a role in the closure. 

Tvilum nearly went bankrupt in 2018 after a large loss, but managed to survive, turn things around and grow again. In 2019, 2020 and 2021, the company had a turnover of more than USD 145 million each year. Tvilum has not yet published its financial results for 2022.

The previous owner, the American private equity fund Revolution, closed factories in Denmark and moved parts of production to Poland. Tvilum was then acquired by a Danish investor group in 2018, including Tvilum’s founding family.

The group’s other factory in Kjellerup, which mainly produces furniture for Ikea. It employs around 100 people.