THG shares have jumped on the news that Japan’s SoftBank will sell its stake in the troubled British online shopping group to its co-founder Matthew Moulding and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund.
The move has cemented Moulding’s control of THG, formerly known as The Hut Group, which owns a range of internet health and beauty retailers, and ended speculation about SoftBank’s disastrous investment.
The Japanese firm, run by its founder, Masayoshi Son, is offloading its stake – once worth £500m – for £31m, making a loss of £450m on its investment. It bought an 8% stake in THG for £481m in May 2021 to help fund expansion of its technology platform a few months before it floated in London.
THG shares rose 10% in early trading and later traded 9% higher at 49.9p. However, shares have plummeted 86% over the past year, as the business struggled with slowing sales.
THG owns the retail websites Lookfantastic, Glossybox, Zavvi and Coggles, as well as beauty brands including ESPA and Illamasqua, and the sports nutrition brand Myprotein. It was founded in 2004 by Moulding and John Gallemore, who started out selling CDs and DVDs online for other retailers.
SoftBank’s disposal comes as it decided to liquidate its internal hedge fund SB Northstar, which has racked up losses of about $6bn (£5bn).
THG said SB Northstar had agreed to sell 80.6m THG shares, its entire shareholding, to Qatar Investment Authority and Moulding, THG’s chief executive. The shares will be sold at 39p each on Thursday, below Monday’s closing price of 45p. QIA, which is already a shareholder, will buy 84% of the shares.
SoftBank terminated an agreement in July that would have allowed it to acquire a fifth of THG’s Ingenuity technology division.
In a stock market update, Moulding said: “We at THG extend our thanks to SoftBank for their support as a financial and commercial partner, and we will continue to benefit from the relationships formed across their international technology portfolio.
“I’m delighted to be further increasing my family’s stake in THG, continuing our unswerving support following on from other recent share purchases.”
