Professional Services
FRP Advisory
Full Credential Description
Must Have Limited, trading as VIP Electronic Cigarette, faced significant challenges due to financial pressures from its U.S. parent company, Electronic Cigarettes International, which led to the appointment of we as administrator. Despite the company being profitable, a demand from HMRC necessitated urgent action. The management team submitted an offer to acquire the business, but the administrators believed that a better outcome could be achieved for creditors by continuing to trade the business while seeking a buyer.
we adopted an integrated approach, leveraging expertise from both its Corporate Finance and Restructuring Advisory teams across London and Manchester. They initiated a marketing process to find a buyer for Must Have as a going concern, operating under an accelerated timetable while the business continued trading in administration. Utilizing their extensive network of potential trade and private equity buyers, along with proprietary research to identify additional prospects, we successfully generated multiple competitive offers.
The outcome was a successful sale of the business for £11.9 million to Nicoventures Retail (UK), a subsidiary of British American Tobacco plc, which not only preserved 265 jobs but also represented a significant increase over the initial offer. The entire sale process was completed in less than six weeks, demonstrating the effectiveness of we's tailored strategy and collaborative efforts in navigating the complexities of the situation.