Member Article

Gateley Legal advises Virgin Wines on its flotation on AIM

The corporate team in the Birmingham office of Gateley Legal has advised Virgin Wines on the admission of its shares to trading on AIM, the London Stock Exchange’s growth market.

Established in 2000, Virgin Wines is one of the UK’s largest direct-to-consumer online wine retailers and works with trusted suppliers and winemaking partners around the world to source, design, blend and sell award-winning and exclusive premium wines.

The Group has recently expanded its product offering to include carefully curated collections of premium spirits and craft beers.

The company’s decision to float on AIM will enable the business to fulfil its growth strategy and drive forward the development of its core wine offering, as well as its corporate and gifting channels and range of beers and spirits.

Corporate partner at Gateley Legal, Tom Rush, led on the floatation and was supported by associate, Rebecca Bennett on the pre-IPO reorganisation and solicitor, Jamie Gillespie on the public company aspects.

Partner and head of the corporate team, Tom Durrant led the legal due diligence of the transaction with support from solicitor, Matt Flint.

Tom Rush commented: “It’s an exciting time for Virgin Wines as they continue to expand and add more products to their offering. It was a pleasure to advise them on this significant step in their journey and we look forward to seeing them flourish.”

Jay Wright, chief executive officer of Virgin Wines said: “Virgin Wines is a distinctive, fast-growing direct-to-consumer retail business with a unique wine sourcing model and a loyal customer base. We are delighted to list on AIM signifying an exciting new chapter in the Group’s long-term development.

“We have enjoyed strong, consistent growth recently resulting in the Group delivering more than one million cases of wine to consumers during 2020. Underpinned by the strength of our customer proposition as well as the benefit of many positive consumer trends, we have a clear strategy to continue this growth over the coming years.”

The Gateley Legal corporate team was recently ranked the most active deal adviser in the UK in 2020, according to The Experian MarketIQ UK M&A Report, after completing 194 disclosable transactions.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Dani Marsh .