Charterhouse sells £106m of Card Factory shares

The GP sold 40 million ordinary shares at a price of 265 pence apiece, representing an 11.7% stake in the business.

Following the sale, the GP retains a 29.5% stake in Card Factory.

The company listed on London's main market in May this year, with shares priced at 225 pence each, giving the business a market-cap of £766.6m. Shares fell by 10% the day after the company's flotation.

Morgan Stanley, UBS and Nomura acted as joint global coordinators, joint sponsors and joint bookrunners on the IPO. Investec was joint lead manager.

Previous funding
Charterhouse supported the management buyout of Card Factory for a reported £350m in April 2010. Lloyds TSB provided senior debt to finance the acquisition.

The following year, Charterhouse supported the firm's acquisition of Getting Personal from Living Bridge, then Isis Equity Partners.

Company
Founded in 1997 and based in Wakefield, Card Factory designs and supplies greeting cards, gifts, novelty items and gift wrap across the UK. The majority of cards are sold for less than £1.

The business has more than 750 stores alongside an online offering. In the financial year ending 31 January 2014, the business sold more than 285 million cards, generating £326.9m in sales and EBITDA of £80.4m – an increase of 9% and 9.2% respectively on 2013 figures. Its EBITDA margin stands at 24.6%.

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• Topics
• UK / Ireland
• Consumer
• Exits
• Charterhouse Capital Partners
• United Kingdom