Moonpig nosedives after private equity firm sells 25m shares
Personalised card company Moonpig suffered its worst day of trading in three years on Thursday, after a private equity firm sold 25 million of shares in the firm.
The move sent shares in the FTSE 250 plunging resulting in what was the worst day of trading for the company as a listed business.
Investors led by private equity firm Exponent sold 25 million shares in the card and gift business at 160p a piece, more than 10 per cent below Wednesday’s closing price of 178p.
The sale cut Exponent’s stake in the business by about a third and raised around £40m in process.
Strategic Value Partners, LGT Capital Partners, GoldPoint and Abrdn also joined the secondary placing, with Citigroup and Jefferies acting as joint global bookrunners.
This sent shares in Moonpig down by around 10 per cent on Thursday (25 April) morning.
Key investors have been reducing their stake in Moonpig since the company’s £1.2bn stock market listing in 2021.
Moonpig is amongst a wave of high profile floats in 2021. Others included Deliveroo and Dr Martens who have since seen their values fall sharply.
Shares in Dr Martens also fell by 31 per cent last Tuesday after it announced its chief executive Kenny Willison would step down.
An investment firm, which owns roughly five million shares of Dr Martens, also wrote to the board last month and suggested the company would perform better as a private company or as part of a larger, multi-brand holding company.
New York based Marathon Partners Equity Management, LLC argued the company’s stagnant growth and 83 per cent slide in share price since its IPO three years ago have not valued the company at its true worth.