UPDATED:: Geoff Hannaford the ANZ Country Lead & Director at Philips Domestic Appliances now known as Versuni, has quite due to a medical condition that needed treatment, with speculation mounting re the future of the business following the appointment of a Bain executive to run the business globally.
The new General Manager and Director of Australia and New Zealand is Alexander Gutwirth, with claims that the business which is owned by Chinese private equity firm Hillhouse Capital is about to be restructured or even sold, with Bain Company executives bought in to advice the Company according to local sources.
Since this story was originally published Versuni management from the Netherlands has claimed that Philips Domestic Appliances “Is not under review”.
They also claim that the business is not being sold.
Philips Domestic Appliances transitioned to their company name, Versuni, last year, with their new visual identity being rolled out globally.
Geoff Hannaford former Philips Executive
The name Philips Appliances is being retained due to the strength of the brand.
Recently Versuni, laid off 46 engineers at its innovation centre in Drachten in the Netherlands, several media outlets in Europe reported.
There were already fears of cuts after the company last year announced the shutdown of its Austrian site.
Back in 2021 Philips sold part of its home products business to the Chinese investment vehicle Hillhouse Capital.
When the deal was done the division employed 200 people in Drachten, and another 600 in Amsterdam; at the time the business claimed that staff numbers would not be affected.
Adding to claims that the business is under review, there was recently a major shakeup of management with president and CEO Henk de Jong leaving the business to be succeeded by Véronique Pauwels a former Bain & Company executive.
Labor unions, in the Netherlands the home of Philips have complained of deteriorating employment conditions since Philips Domestic Appliances was acquired by the Chinese investor Hillhouse Capital in 2021. 
Véronique Pauwels was previously employed as the Netherlands managing partner at Bain & Company, where she also led the Consumer Products and EMEA Performance Improvement practice.
She’s an expert in sustained transformations and has more than 25 years of global experience supporting boards and CEOs in addressing their most pressing strategic challenges.
Having worked closely with Versuni’ s executive team in the past there is now speculation that a review of the business is taking place in an effort to improve returns and if that cannot be achieved sell the business.
Despite sitting on billions of dollars in unused capital, private equity firms’ exit strategies produced $7.2 billion in gains in Australia last year, this was down from $10.6 billion in 2022, data from consultancy Bain & Co reveals.
Investments in Australian companies also shrunk to $12.8 billion in 2023, from $24.3 billion a year earlier.
While dealmakers are optimistic that the tide is turning, bankers and their sponsor clients are still uncertain when the initial public offering market – a common exit strategy for private equity – will open.
But the pressure has mounted on firms to sell some of their older portfolio companies such as Philips Appliances as their investors are clamour for better returns.
“Limited partners want to see results … I have never had so much interest in pre-sale strategies,” James Viles, the head of private equity in Australia at Bain & Co, said recently.
