THG raises £95m in share sale, Frasers Group buys in

Manchester-based online retailer THG said it raised £95.4 million from equity investors, including £10 million from Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group, as it prepares to spin off its Ingenuity fulfillment unit as a separate company.

The fund-raising exceeds the £75 million target THG set on Thursday, when it announced its plans.

THG said the £10 million investment from Frasers was in addition to about £75 million of net proceeds from existing long-term investors to provide medium-term funding to Ingenuity. It said an additional £5.4 million was raised from retail investors. Net proceeds over £75 million will be used for general corporate purposes, according to THG.

Existing long-term investors and shareholders contributed £50 million to the fund raising, including £10 million from CEO Matthew Moulding.

Overall, THG said it would issue new shares equal to about 14.6% of existing shares in the fund-raising.

The investment from Frasers comes after it signed a multi-year strategic partnership with THG in June, including a multi-year Ingenuity agreement, the deployment of Frasers Group’s credit and loyalty platform, Frasers Plus, being made available to THG’s Beauty and Nutrition customers through Ingenuity’s Checkout product and launching a range of Myprotein products in store at Sports Direct.