Moonpig confirms $1.6 billion float as London awaits extra tech IPOs

Photo: Ingrid Rasmussen | Stone | Getty Images

LONDON – Online card retailer Moonpig has confirmed that it plans to go public on the London Stock Exchange next month after the demand for its cards soared during the coronavirus pandemic.

Moonpig, which also operates the Greetz brand in the Netherlands, announced Tuesday that at least a quarter of the company will be listed on the stock exchange’s main market through an IPO.

US investors BlackRock and Dragoneer have agreed to spend £ 130 million on Moonpig shares when the shares start trading in February.

Nickyl Raithatha, chief executive of Moonpig, is expected to make £ 11 million from the IPO, according to The Guardian newspaper, while chairwoman Kate Swann is expected to make £ 7 million.

“As a leader in accelerating online change, we are excited to bring the Moonpig Group to the public market. Our data-based technology platform makes it incredibly easy for our customers to create special moments for the people they care about,” said Raithatha in a statement.

Moonpig, with around 450 employees, is expected to publish its full IPO prospectus next week.

Moonpig was founded in 2000 and, according to estimates by the consulting firm OC&C, is the clear online market leader for cards. In 2019, the UK had a 60% market share among online card specialists.

Headquartered in London, the company announced its intention to go public last week. By October 31, it had amassed 12.2 million active customers.

The Moonpig website has over 20,000 cards and a range of gifts, including flowers, mugs, and chocolates. Customers order 46 million cards and 7 million gifts a year, Moonpig said.

For the fiscal year ended April 30, 2020, Moonpig Group’s sales were £ 173.1 million, with £ 126.5 million contributed by the Moonpig segment and £ 46.6 million from the Greetz segment. The company announced that its sales increased 44% between fiscal 2019 and 2020.

Moonpig is the UK’s first tech IPO of the year, but there are a number of other companies preparing to go public.

Grocery delivery service Deliveroo is reportedly planning to list a list valued at between $ 8 billion and $ 13 billion in April, while money exchange app Transferwise may also go public. Elsewhere, cybersecurity firm Darktrace and pension pot provider Pension Bee are also looking into potential listings.

Many of the UK’s largest tech companies have traditionally chosen to list on the tech-driven Nasdaq market or on the New York Stock Exchange in the US. However, the London Stock Exchange has been trying to convince them to list at home in recent years.

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