Fat Face appoints bankers to look at possible sale
The owners of Fat Face
A report in the Sunday Times said they’ve appointed Rothschild to look at strategic options, including a possible sale of the business.
It’s a key step that comes after a troubled period for the firm that was formerly owned by Bridgepoint Capital. It had bought the business in 2007 for £360 million. However, at the height of the pandemic in mid-2020 with its debt load crushing it, a consortium of its lenders took over the firm in a debt-for-equity deal.
That transaction slashed its debt and meant it could continue trading. It also refinanced recently with a new revolving credit facility until 2027 and has plenty of cash to get it through the next few years.
So if a sale happens, it clearly won’t be on fire-sale terms with the company now in a much better position that it once was. Its sales are back at pre-pandemic levels and in the six months to last November, they were £125 million and were 4% higher than they were before Covid struck, with 38% of its sales happening online.
In another sign of confidence, earlier this month, Fat Face named a new COO with the company promoting its global operations director Mark Wright to the newly-created post with immediate effect.
