Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Former UK chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has been appointed chair of online retailer The Very Group, which is owned by the Barclay family, days after announcing his intention to stand down as an MP.
Zahawi will replace current non-executive chair Aidan Barclay, who assumed the role as a family representative on an interim basis in February. The update comes after the YouGov co-founder said he would not seek re-election as a Conservative MP at the next general election.
His brief is to work with the current management team “to achieve continued sales and profit growth”, the company said in a statement on Monday. The Liverpool-based group owns the Very and Littlewoods brands.
Zahawi will also work with shareholders on strategic options for the business, which may involve fresh equity investment in the short to medium term, the group added.
The Very Group has a complicated financing structure, including more than £1.5bn in securitised loans and bonds of £575mn in different parts of the operating company structure. In February, private equity group Carlyle and Abu Dhabi investment group IMI agreed a £125mn funding package for the group to “support its growth strategy”.
Barclay on Monday lauded Zahawi’s “proven track record in digital growth and innovation” and the fact that he was “highly respected in the UK and global markets”.
Zahawi has been an MP since 2010, and was sacked as Tory chair last year after being found to have committed breaches of the ministerial code by failing to be transparent about his tax affairs.
Prior to his political career, he co-founded and was chief executive of polling platform YouGov. During his tenure, the UK group expanded globally, and joined the London Stock Exchange. The Very Group has previously explored an initial public offering.
Zahawi has also been an unofficial adviser to the Barclay family over the future of its businesses last year, as they faced the prospect of losing control of their media and retail empire.
He helped introduce the family to RedBird IMI, the Abu Dhabi-backed investment fund that went on to agree a deal to acquire the Telegraph in a sale overseen by Lloyds Banking Group. The bank last summer seized control of the newspaper after the family failed to repay their debts.
Prior to this deal, the Barclay family had also hoped to secure funding from the Middle East to pay down their debts and retain control of the newspaper.
The deal agreed with RedBird IMI for the Telegraph was then blocked by the government, but it left Abu Dhabi’s IMI as an investor in the Very Group. IMI had agreed to provide £600mn in debt to the group as part of the deal to repay debts to Lloyds.
