With an aim to boost international and digital expansion, the British outdoor clothing retailer Mountain Warehouse has inked a deal, worth £ 45 million, to sell around 20 per cent of its stake to Partnership Capital, a specialist minority fund owned by private equity firm Inflexion.
The apparel brand, founded by Mark Neale, came into existence in 1997 and sells outdoor clothing including fleeces and equipment including tents and sleeping bags.
“The investment would help us to ‘turbo-charge’ the company’s growth in the UK, overseas and online,” Mountain Warehouse founder and CEO Mark Neale was quoted as saying in media reports.
The outdoor clothing and equipment market in Europe is valued at £14 billion.
The retail brand currently operates more than 220 stores in the UK, and 80 others in countries like Germany, Holland, Canada, Poland, the Netherlands, Ireland, Austria, New Zealand and the US.
The investment deal has come at the time when the retailer witnessed a record growth of 22 per cent increase in sales to £ 225.3 million in fiscal 2018 as compared to the previous one.
Inflexion said Mark Neale will continue to run the business along with his team.
“Its good to go for an association with someone who understands our business,” added Mountain Warehouse CEO.
“We concluded on this deal as the business is one with an unrivalled brand in the outdoor market,” said Simon Turner, managing partner at Inflexion.
