Seraphine delisting confirmed for next month

Seraphine, the premium maternity brand, has confirmed its plan to delist from the London Stock Exchange next month after 'Purple Bidco', a subsidiary of its majority owner, Mayfair Equity Partners, secured acceptance of its buyout in respect of more than 95% of its shares.

The London-based business was floated in July 2021 but in January of this year, Mayfair said it was seeking to take the business back into private ownership offering to purchasing the remaining shares it didn't already own at 30p-a-share, a discount of around 90% to the initial public offering price of 295p. At the time Mayfair held 42.61% of the voting rights in Seraphine.

Mayfair announced the move to return Seraphine to private ownership after the business fell into the red - it had reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of £1.5m for the 26 weeks ending 2 October, compared to a £3m profit in 2021, having been hit by the global supply chain crisis and soft trading throughout last summer.

The investor argued that the costs associated with being a listed business were too much of a drain on the company and that its share price was "negatively impacting Seraphine’s ability to deliver on its strategy and attract and retain talent".

Today it was announced that the Bidco and Seraphine's independent directors had reached agreement on the terms of the recommended cash offer and had received acceptances of the offer in respect of 97.63% of the shares, exceed the required threshold of 90% for a mandatory share purchase.

The offer officially closes for acceptance on 6 April at which point the Bidco intends to begin the implementation of the compulsory acquisition procedure to acquire the remaining Seraphine shares and cancel its stock market listing. 

Seraphine was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Cécile Reinaud offering stylish, modern and accessibly priced maternity wear. It garnered a high profile celebrity following and was worn by the Duchess of Cambridge during her pregnancies. Mayfair Equity Partners acquired the business in 2020 in a deal that valued it at £50m. Its previous majority owner had been Bridgepoint Growth, which first invested in 2017.

Current CEO David Williams joined the business from ASOS in 2017, initially as COO. He stepped up to the CEO role in 2019 and at that point Reinaud took a step back from the day to day running of the business.