Ashcombe advises Lovehoney on a majority sale to Telemos Capital
Ashcombe is pleased to announce that it has advised Lovehoney – the world’s leading online retailer of sexual happiness products – on its majority sale to Telemos Capital.
Established in Bath in 2002 by Richard Longhurst and Neal Slateford, Lovehoney is a market leading pure-play ecommerce retailer, focusing on female users and couples. Distributing a mix of own label and third-party products Lovehoney has grown into an international success, delivering 30% year-on-year growth and record sales of approximately £100 million from the UK, the US, Australia and Europe in the most recent financial year. In recognition of the business’ achievements Lovehoney received the Queen's Award for Enterprise in 2016.
Neal Slateford, Co-Founder of Lovehoney, said:
“Ashcombe have been instrumental in helping us determine our objectives, develop our strategy, and find the right partners for the business in Telemos, who are perfect to support our next stage of growth. We are thrilled with the result and look forward to working with them again.”
Richard Longhurst, Co-Founder of Lovehoney, added:
“A process like this is a once in a lifetime event, and we cannot imagine that anyone could have handled it better than the Ashcombe team. They went the extra inch and earned our complete trust. We are delighted with the result.”
Simon Bullivant of Ashcombe added:
“Working with founders is a speciality of ours and such a fun business is an added bonus. We understood how important it was to find a good home for the first-class business that Richard & Neal have built and Telemos proved to be a highly capable investor that will provide Lovehoney the support it needs through the next stage of its internationalisation and development.”