Shoosmiths Advises LDC on £16m Investment into Leading National Hair Salon
January, 2017 - Thames Valley, England
National law firm Shoosmiths has advised Lloyds Development Capital (LDC) on its £16m investment into national hair salon Rush.
Fast becoming the leading hair and beauty brand in the UK, Rush has 85 salons across the country including in Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham and Bristol with a flagship branch, House of Rush, on London’s Piccadilly.
The investment from LDC will help to accelerate Rush’s national expansion of the brand as the company plans to almost double its salon count over the next four years. As part of the deal, LDC will acquire a minority shareholding.
Rush, which employs more than 1,100 stylists and has 13,000 customers a week, has annual sales of £36million with profits of £4million.
Shoosmiths’ corporate team was led by partners Emma Gibson and Sean Wright with associate Kiran Dhesi, solicitor Adam Leszczynski and paralegal Lawrence Renny assisting. Partner Tom Wilde supported on tax aspects.
Alastair Weinel, Investment Director at LDC, commented: ‘Rush has a strong brand proposition and an ambitious management team putting the business in an ideal position to push and grow its UK footprint. The Shoosmiths team provided effective, market savvy legal advice that has helped to ensure the smooth running of the investment process.’
Emma Gibson added: ‘We are very pleased to advise LDC on this exciting new investment into Rush. The UK hair market is worth £6.7 billion and continued growth is forecast for the industry. We wish all the shareholders luck with this ongoing venture.’
Shoosmiths' corporate team advises public and private companies, management teams, investors and debt providers through the business life cycle. Shoosmiths work with businesses from start-up and first round finance through to mergers and acquisitions, MBO and MBI transactions, development funding and on exits, by way of sale, listing or private equity investment.
Nationally, the corporate team is ranked in first place by deal volume in Experian's 2016 MarketIQ UK & Ireland M&A league tables. The team was recognised for its mergers and acquisitions expertise at the 2015 M&A Awards, winning the Law Firm of the Year category.
