Mountain Warehouse And Inflexion Connect With Investment
Mountain Warehouse has a new partner on its trek.
Inflexion Private Equity Partners bought about 20 percent of the London-based outdoor apparel and equipment retailer on Sunday, spending roughly 45 million pounds for the stake. The deal gave Mountain Warehouse an enterprise value of 310 million pounds.
The company, which started with a shop in Swindon in 1997 and has 300 stores in nine countries and 3,000 employees, will continue to be led by Mark Neale, founder and chief executive officer.
Neale plans to stick with the approach that’s worked for him so far.
“It’s my firm belief that if you have the right products at the right price, in the right locations and provide great service, people will keep shopping with you,” the ceo said. “It’s great that Inflexion share that belief and wants to help support the next phase of our growth.”
Mountain Hardware’s sales climbed 22 percent for the year ended Feb. 25 to 225.3 million pounds, which marked 21 straight years of growth. The company still operates mostly in its home market, with 220 stores in the U.K., but also has outposts in Poland, Canada, Holland, Germany, Ireland, Austria, New Zealand and the U.S.
The company plans to double in size over the next five years.
“Having followed the business for a decade, we understand how management envisage it growing, and look forward to assisting them with their growth in the
U.K. and international markets, as well as with their digital offering,” said Simon
The private equity firm’s minority investment valued the outdoor retailer at 310 million pounds.
Turner, managing partner at Inflexion. The deal might be a sign of the times. Despite a spate of trouble in the worlds of retail and apparel and uncertainty on the geopolitical scene, some observers are becoming more bullish on apparel dealmaking.
A recent Deloitte study of mergers and