Friday March 26, 2021

Corporate Finance team leads sale of fast-growing e-commerce business

Our Corporate Finance team led the sale of Only Home Limited, one of the UK’s fastest growing online marketplaces focused on home furnishings and décor, to Baaj Capital, the specialist retail sector investors.

Based in Oxfordshire, Only Home was founded in 2014. The business has since grown strongly, with turnover growth of 110 per cent in their 2020 financial year. However, following a challenging period through the coronavirus pandemic, Only Home’s Directors approached FRP to help them secure new funding for the business and ensure that its strong growth trajectory would continue under new ownership.

After a focused marketing process, utilising the FRP team’s previous experience of deals in the online retail sector, Baaj Capital was identified as the ideal partner to take the business forward.

Following the deal, Only Home will become part of Baaj Capital and it is anticipated that the proprietary e-commerce technology platform, developed by the Only Home team will be used to support the wider group’s e-commerce strategy. Only Home will continue to operate as normal with its existing team in place, and with the support of its new owners is expected to continue expanding successfully.

The deal was led by Daniel Choucino and Harry Walker in our Corporate Finance team, who were asked by the shareholders of Only Home to find a new owner for the business to support its future growth. The FRP team quickly drew up a focused list of suitable buyers for the business, assembled a business marketing pack and approached the agreed parties. After an efficient auction-style bidding process, FRP led the commercial negotiations with Baaj Capital, who were the shareholders’ preferred bidder, and project managed the deal to completion.

Harry Walker, Corporate Finance Director at FRP, said: “We are delighted to have supported the founders of Only Home in finding new owners for their business. We have a breadth of experience having worked on a number of deals in online retail and e-commerce over the last twelve months, and were able to put this to good use in identifying the ideal partner to help the company continue to accelerate its growth.”