Online retailer announces $1bn funding package
Online retailer The Hut Group Limited has announced a major funding package worth more than £770m.
The funding will help the firm realise its ambitious expansion plans which include a massive HQ which will eventually be home to 10,000 staff.
The Hut Group is now one of the world’s largest online beauty and wellbeing businesses.
Today the firm announced new group banking facilities, in excess of $1bn or £770m.
The funding will support major investments in beauty, technology and infrastructure, allowing the group to continue to deliver on its growth plans.
New Hut Group HQ
The enhanced facility increases and extends the revolving credit facility to a four-year deal, while the merger and acquisition facility has also been extended to become a three-year deal.
As part of this refinancing Shanghai Pudong Development Bank has joined the revolving credit facility, reflecting the significance of Asian markets which now account for over 20% of group sales.
Andrew Woods, from Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, said: “We are delighted to join The Hut Group’s core banking facility at this exciting time in the company’s development.
“This transaction is in line with the bank’s strategy of facilitating UK corporates with their trade flows to China and underlines our confidence in the THG management team.”
The Hut Group has also agreed new property funding up to €40m with Intesa Sanpaolo to finance the freehold acquisition and fit out of the recently commissioned distribution warehouse in Wroclaw, Poland.
The new 800,000 sq. ft. warehouse and manufacturing facility will provide the group with faster and more efficient access to almost 300 million online shoppers, helping keep pace with the continued global growth.
THG continued to grow rapidly, with 2018 sales in excess of $1.2bn.
The firm is continuing to invest in its own brand proposition, particularly its ever-growing beauty portfolio, which is powered by THG Ingenuity, its e-commerce technology platform.
The platform, which generates global consumer demand insights, continues to grow and now trades on over 166 localised websites across 46 languages and 42 currencies.
Matthew Moulding, founder and chief executive, of THG, said: “We are thrilled to build on the continued support shown by our banking syndicate and also very much look forward to working with our new partners.
“We value their support and the partnership we have developed with each of them.
“Our new property funding for our distribution warehouse in Poland, alongside this extension of our credit facilities, are further powerful additions for the group and its business model as we continue to deliver on our ambitions of becoming the global digital leader across the beauty and wellbeing sector and drive forward our expansion plans.”
Steven Estill, HSBC UK’s Relationship Director for Large Corporate, said: “We have been working with THG since 2014 and over that time we’ve seen the business grow rapidly in global online beauty and wellbeing markets.
“This recent refinancing will position the business perfectly to continue its search for acquisitions over the coming years. We look forward to working alongside the group as they continue to deliver on their latest ambitions.”
Graham Holland, Barclays Relationship Director, said: “Barclays is once again delighted to support the ambitions of The Hut Group by taking a leading role in the refinancing of their capital structure.
“This provides financial strength and enables them to continue to pursue their growth agenda with confidence and capitalise on market opportunities arising from the current economic climate.”
The following banking teams executed the transaction: HSBC (Steve Estill, Will Rix & Jake Taylor); Barclays (Tom Johnson, Na Wei, Graham Holland & Atif Malik); Santander (Andrew Mulliner, Matthew Thomas, Charlotte Lees & Tom Bamber); Citibank (Sam Norton, Ula Malczewska & Ryan Ladwa); JP Morgan (Christos Kolimenakis, Zev Garell, Chris Wood & Richard Johansson); NatWest (Richard Smart, Howard Gillibrand, David Caunce & Kieran O’Malley); Bank of Ireland (Alastair Kenny, Harriet Castle and David Willis); Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (Tad Becchetti & Andrew Woods); Lloyds (Kate Grimoldby, Karen Mann, Andy DeVaux & Chris Lawrie); AIMCO (Peter Hutton & Peter Shen) and SVB (Rosh Wijayarathna, Van Tran, Jash Miller & Ryan Barnett)
The Hut Group was advised by Martin O’Shea, Jessica Burgess and Emma Parker from Addleshaw Goddard. Matt Morgan of Pinsent Masons advised the syndicate, assisted by Becca Labib and Sarah Greenwood.
