Seraphine releases IPO details, aims to raise £61 million

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jun 24, 2021

Maternitywear specialist Seraphine has confirmed its intention to float on the London Stock Exchange and said the IPO should raise around £61 million.

It will list on the LSE’s main market, rather than the Alternative Investment Market that has proved popular with fashion businesses in the past, and the book-building process to set the offer price will happen next month.

The company was sold by its founder and her backer Bridgepoint late last year for £50 million. It was acquired by Mayfair Equity Partners and the firm’s management under CEO (and former ASOS exec) David Williams.

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Given that it should see “at least 50% of its issued share capital” in free float post-IPO and it expects to raise over £60 million, it’s clear that its owners got a good deal when they bought it last December.

David Williams said the owners of the company “strongly feel that now is the right time for the business to IPO. Listing will give us the opportunity to further the group’s reach and continue to grow our presence and product offer in the highly resilient and under-competed maternity and nursing wear market. The opportunities for the business are considerable, with plenty of the global market still to go for.”

The offer will comprise new and existing shares and the group intends to use approximately £16 million of the gross primary proceeds to repay its existing term loan and to pay costs associated with the offer. The rest of the money will be used to repay the group’s loan notes held by certain existing shareholders.

But importantly, the IPO is also expected to increase the group’s “public profile and brand awareness, particularly in international markets; further improve the ability of the group to attract and retain high quality talent; provide the company access to a wider range of capital-raising options, which may be of use in the future; [and] create a liquid market in the Ordinary Shares for existing and future shareholders”.

As part of the process, it also said Sarah Highfield has agreed to become a non-executive director and will chair the audit committee. She’s currently COO and CFO of breast pump specialist Elvie and has previously worked in senior roles at Costa Coffee and Tesco.