Sweet: Hotel Chocolat just priced its IPO
It's a sweet day if you're into equities, for Hotel Chocolat – the upmarket confectioner whose offerings include a £100 box of chocolates – has unveiled the pricing of its IPO.
The retailer, which announced its plans to float on Aim back in March, said today it expects to be valued at £167m once it lists – more than the £150m originally mooted.
The company will sell 8.1m new shares and 29.4m existing shares at 148p per share. It hopes to raise gross proceeds of £55.5m from institutional and other investors. It added it has conditionally raised £12m ahead of the placing.
Read more: Angus Thirlwell on how he built a chocolat empire
Following the flotation of a 33 per cent stake, the company's founders, Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris, will be left with 66.6 per cent of the company.
“Today is a significant moment in the development of Hotel Chocolat and we are delighted to have received such strong demand from investors," said Thirlwell this morning.
"We have clear plans to invest further in our British chocolate manufacturing operations, in new stores and in our digital offering."
The company has previously experimented with rather more inventive ways of raising capital: in 2010 it launched the first "chocolate bond", which paid interest in chocolate, raising £4.2m. In 2014 it launched a second bond, raising £5m.
Liberum Capital is acting as adviser and broker.
| Tasty: How Hotel Chocolat's founders built a retail empire |
|
1993 1998 2004 2010 2014 2016 |