Very Group lines up trio of banks to spearhead potential IPO

Image: The Very Group The owners of The Very Group have reportedly lined up Barclays, Morgan Stanley and UBS to spearhead its potential flotation on the stock market. The Barclay family, who also own The Daily Telegraph, has chosen the three banks as the global coordinators of the IPO, which is likely to take place next year, Sky News reports. The news comes just days after Very Group, which owns brands Very and Littlewoods, announced it had raised 575 million pounds to refinance its debt through the issuing of senior secured notes due to expire in 2026. The group’s chief financial officer Ben Fletcher said the offer was “significantly oversubscribed”, which he said was a testament to the company’s “strong performance and resilient business model”. He said the group is “well-positioned to continue its strong trading trajectory and remains focused on its purpose of making ‘good things easily accessible to more people’”. Earlier this month, Sky reported that STJ Advisors had been called in by Very Group to prepare the company for a stock market debut as early as next year. The family could reportedly be eyeing a 4 billion pound windfall from the flotation. It would be the first time the family has taken one of their company’s public, though sources close to the matter cautioned that a partial stake sale remains an option. Very Group, formerly known as Shop Direct, reported a 2.9 percent increase in revenue to over 2 billion pounds in the year to June 2020.
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