The Hut rides away with Probikekit.com
FAST growing Cheshire e-tailer The Hut Group has moved into the specialist sportswear market with the acquisition of Cumbrian cycling business Probikekit.com.
The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, will add around £15m to The Hut’s annual turnover.
Founded in 1998, PBK as it is known, sells accessories (lights, saddlebags, locks, water bottles); components (gears, brakes, seats, pedals); clothing, (helmets, eyewear, base layers, gilets, shoes); tyres and tubes; bike frames; plus sports nutrition and supplements.
Acquired from private equity firm Encore Capital and management It will join The Hut’s Lifestyle division, which also includes MyProtein.com.
The Hut said the deal would allow it to broaden the Lifestyle offering and to generate further product and customer cross-selling opportunities. It plans also to expand the PBK product range to include triathlon, which it says is “another high growth and complementary product category”.
The Northwich-based company, which is hoping to list on the stpock market some time this year, said confirmed its equitty fundraising from the Lewis family, which founded the River Island retail business. CLive Lewis from the family will be joining the board too.
Matthew Moulding, chief executive of The Hut Group commented:
“Following a review of the sector we identified PBK as the outstanding brand for acquisition given its heritage, the breadth and longevity of its supplier relationships and its international customer reach.
“Through our due diligence it quickly became apparent that Encore Capital had created a stable and professionalised platform ideal for the group to enter the specialist cycling and triathlon markets.
“We are very excited about the prospect of combining the specialist know-how of PBK with The Hut’s ecommerce expertise to compete in a sector growing at 15% p.a.”
Chairman Angus Monro, added: “We are delighted to welcome Clive Lewis to the Board. Clive’s retailing experience will be invaluable as the group continues to expand its product offering, across third party and proprietary own brands.”
Roger Hart and Kieran Toal from Addleshaw Goddard in Manchester provided legal advice to The Hut. Financial and taxation due diligence was led by Richard Harding, Noam Handler and Sue Wright from Ernst & Young in the city too.
Jude Barter from the Gordons Partnership provided legal advice to PBK, with management advised by Ryan Hawley of Squire Sanders (UK) LLP.
T
he equity fundraise was led by Costas Kalisperas of Barclays and legal advice was provided by Addleshaws, led by Roger Hart and Covington, led by Natalie Diep and Peter Laveran.
