How Boohoo’s joined the queue of retailers flocking to market
ONLINE fashion retailer boohoo.com is being groomed for a snap stock market flotation next month, joining the stampede of retail companies marching towards a London market listing this year.
Boohoo.com, which is run by Manchester-based co-founders Carol Kane and Mahmud Kamani, is working with its financial broker Zeus Capital on plans for an initial public offering (IPO) of shares in the business.
The company could be valued at £500m in an IPO, with a spokesman last night confirming that the company was hoping to start trading on AIM during March.
The business, which is owned by a parent company called Wasabi Frog, could emulate the success of rival online fashion retailer Asos, which has seen its share price rise from 25p in 2001 to 6,526p today.
Boohoo.com will join a host of retail companies queuing to tap stock markets this year, with companies like House of Fraser, B&M, Pets at Home, Poundland, AO.com, Fat Face, the Card Factory, DFS and Game Group just some of the names hoping to raise money by selling stakes on the public equity markets.
Poundland and Pets at Home – owned by private equity giants Warburg Pincus and KKR respectively – are expected to pull the trigger on their float plans as soon as this week.
Estimates from fund managers at Threadneedle Investments suggest 60 firms are currently in the market looking to float, hoping to raise £15bn in total.