The owner of The Very Group, one of Britain’s biggest online shopping platforms, is set to launch a £2bn auction of the company just months after taking control. Sky News has learned that Carlyle, the American private equity giant, is lining up Barclays and JP Morgan to handle the sale of Very, which offers a wide range of fashion, toys, and electrical goods.
An auction is expected to commence shortly, following a series of earlier sale plans drawn up under the ownership of the financially troubled Barclay family, which were put on hold. The proposal to initiate an «immediate» sale process was disclosed in a filing at Companies House by administrators to VGL Holdco, a corporate entity that is now disconnected from Very’s operations.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) was appointed to oversee the insolvency of VGL Holdco in November, allowing Carlyle, a long-standing creditor, to take control for a nominal sum of £1. Very, with an annual revenue of over £2bn and chaired by Nadhim Zahawi, the former Conservative chancellor, is anticipated to report robust sales for the Christmas and Black Friday period.
The change of control last autumn marked the end of more than 20 years of Barclay family involvement with the business, previously known as Littlewoods when it was last sold in 2002 for £750m. Nasdaq-listed Carlyle injected several hundred million pounds into Very Group’s capital structure, primarily to support it during the Covid pandemic in 2021.
This financial support, including an additional £85m from Carlyle in 2024, paved the way for ownership control under the terms of the financing. According to documents filed at Companies House this week, PwC stated that an M&A process would be conducted in line with the expectations for a business of this size.
One insider mentioned that Carlyle’s ownership was always intended to be transitional, with an onward sale timed to maximize value for all stakeholders. IMI, an Abu Dhabi-based media group, which also played a role in attempting to take control of The Daily Telegraph from the Barclays, is also a lender to Very.
Previously known as Shop Direct, Very Group employs thousands of people and offers general merchandise under the Very and Littlewoods brands, including electrical goods, homewares, fashion, and toys. It serves 4.4 million customers and operates a significant consumer finance business to assist shoppers in managing their payments.
Last year, the company borrowed £600m from Arini, a Mayfair-based fund, to address a cash crunch and create breathing space. Retail industry insiders estimate that the business could be valued between £2bn and £2.5bn, lower than the valuation the Barclay family sought in a previous auction.
Very’s most recent quarterly figures showed a 3.7% year-on-year growth for its flagship brand Very UK, while revenue from the Very Finance arm increased by 5.7% to £113m. The Barclays, former owners of London’s Ritz hotel, have relinquished control of various corporate assets, including the Yodel parcel delivery service and the Telegraph newspapers.
In recent weeks, reports have emerged that HSBC, another long-standing lender to the Barclays, filed bankruptcy petitions against senior family members, accelerating the implosion of their business affairs. The Telegraph also reported that IMI engaged advisors to sell the Barclays’ property assets to recover some of the debt owed.
A spokesperson for Very Group declined to provide a comment.
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