Online fashion group boohoo has announced a successful placing of £198m, in a deal led by investment banking boutique Zeus.
Following the fundraise boohoo is expected to have c.£500m in cash, giving it significant firepower to rapidly execute attractive brand acquisitions as they arise around the world.
Founded in Manchester in 2006, boohoo is an inclusive and innovative fashion e-commerce brand targeting young, value-orientated customers. Since completing a £300m IPO in 2014, again led by Zeus, boohoo has grown rapidly in the UK and internationally, with a current market capitalisation in excess of £4.1bn.
In recent years, the firm has extended its customer offerings through a number of acquisitions. This includes building on its female audiences with the purchases of PrettyLittleThing and Nasty Gal in 2017, and MissPap, Karen Millen and Coast last year, and expanded into menswear with the launch of its boohooMAN brand in 2013. As at 29 February 2020, the group had just under 14 million active customers across all its brands around the world.
The firm intends to use the proceeds of the placing to take advantage of potential M&A opportunities that are likely to emerge in the global fashion industry over the coming months. The placing will also support boohoo’s balance sheet to help it to accelerate its vision to lead the fashion ecommerce market globally.
A team at Zeus, comprising of CEO John Goold, directors of corporate finance Nick Cowles and Andrew Jones, corporate finance executive Josh Bean and director of equity capital markets Benjamin Robertson, acted as joint global coordinator, joint bookrunner and nomad on the transaction.
The new shares are expected to be admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market at 8am on 20th May, with the new placing representing five per cent of the enlarged share capital.