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A maternity wear group that was part of the 2021 rush of London stock market listings is on the verge of collapsing into administration, two years after being taken private by its former backers at a 90 per cent discount.
Seraphine Group, whose clothes were worn by Catherine, Princess of Wales, during her pregnancies, has filed notice to appoint administrators from Interpath Advisory, people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times.
Seraphine floated in July 2021 with “BUMP” as its stock market ticker and was one of a flurry of listings that year.
It listed with a £150mn valuation, raising £56mn from investors, but swiftly crashed in value, making it one of the many disastrous listings from that vintage.
Mayfair Private Equity, which used the proceeds from the listing to pay off loans, bought back the business two years later for £15.3mn.
Earlier this month, Seraphine hired advisers at Interpath to find new investors amid challenging circumstances, but the process has since failed. While there had been some interest in buying the brand, no viable investor had emerged for the whole of the business, said one of the people familiar with the matter.
Seraphine was founded in 2002 by Cecile Reinaud, after she had designed outfits for several pregnant friends.
Mayfair Private Equity and Interpath declined to comment. Seraphine did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
https://www.ft.com/content/7f19dc46-e08c-4bd7-9454-82a9fcb75ae2
