Maternity brand worn by celebrities including Kate Middleton and Kate Winslet to be taken private in £15.3m deal

Friday, January 20, 2023 8:17 am

Catherine, Princess of Wales. (Photo by Justin Tallis – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

The board of Purple Bidco, owned by Mayfair Equity, and the directors of Seraphine have agreed to buy the maternity wear company in a deal that values ​​the celebrity’s fashion favorite at £15.3million.

The offer represents a 206 per cent premium to the company’s share price, with each share being sold under the offer for 30p in cash.

The company is now being taken private in a deal that represents a 90% discount to Seraphine’s IPO price of 295p per share in summer 2021.

Its board also said MEP, which owns 42 percent of the shares, is committed to “accelerating growth and strengthening the company’s balance sheet.” as the smaller company struggled to stay afloat during the turmoil of the past two years.

The maternity and nursing wear brand rose to prominence after their products were worn by the Princess of Wales and other high profile women such as Halle Berry, Kate Hudson, Angelina Jolie, Katherine Jenkins and Kate Winslet.

After opening the doors of its first store in Kensington in 2002, the company debuted on the London Stock Exchange last summer with a market valuation of just over £150m.

Sharon Flood, Chair of Seraphine, said the “company has faced an extraordinary convergence of challenges since its listing in 2021” including the cost of living crisis as millions of Britons cut back on their luxuries.

“While the retail sector as a whole is being impacted by these issues, we think Seraphine, a relatively smaller company that is new to the London Stock Exchange and relies heavily on e-commerce, has been disproportionately challenged.

“Despite the tremendous efforts of our employees and management who have managed to improve gross product margin, achieve larger basket sizes and expand into several new markets, the company continues to operate in a very uncertain and challenging market. While we are cautiously confident of returning to profitable growth going forward, additional capital now would allow us to make investments to accelerate our growth strategy.

“Finding this capital in the market would likely be very dilutive and it would take time to restore value.

“The Board of Seraphine therefore believes that this transaction would eliminate the significant costs associated with the listing and give management the time and space to focus its full attention on returning to profitable growth.

She added that the company also “welcomes additional capital provided by Mayfair to accelerate growth and strengthen the company’s balance sheet.”

“The independent directors of Seraphine believe in Mayfair’s offer, which follows a period of intense negotiations and represents a premium of approximately 200 percent. at the current share price is a fair and reasonable offer that we recommend to our shareholders.”

Bertie Aykroyd, Partner at MEP, said: “As the company’s majority shareholder, Mayfair continues to support management and its strategy. However, Mayfair believes that the company’s share price is negatively impacting Seraphine’s ability to execute its strategy and attract and retain talent. We believe it would be beneficial for Seraphine, its employees and its other stakeholders to continue its growth and development as a private company. “

“This would allow Seraphine to operate without the substantial costs of maintaining a public listing and support the company during this period of macro instability. As part of this transaction, we are also providing additional capital that will strengthen Seraphine’s balance sheet and support our intent to secure the business.

“As we expect the current pressure on the company and the market to continue in the short term, it is our aim to also provide liquidity to certain shareholders to allow them to realize their investment for cash at a significant premium to the current market value .”

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Seraphine: The maternity brand adored by Kate Middleton sees stocks plunge as fierce headwinds mount

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