International legal practice Osborne Clarke has advised Passenger, a responsible outdoor clothing brand and one of the UK's fastest growing consumer businesses, as consumer-specialist investment firm, Growth Partner, backed by HomeServe plc Founder and Chairman, Richard Harpin, invests £15 million to acquire a minority stake.
Steve Hewitt, former CEO of Gymshark also invested alongside Growth Partner and joins Passenger as Chairman to further support Passenger with its journey to become a leading global outdoor brand.
Founded by Richard and Alexa Sutcliffe in 2012, Passenger is rooted in nature and wellbeing. Passengers' products blend style, quality and sustainability at an attainable price point. For every order received, Passenger plants a tree. Over 90% of the product range is made with lower impact materials like recycled cotton, recycled polyester, hemp and organic cotton. To date, Passenger has planted over 500,000 native trees and protected 28,000,000 sqm of rainforest through The Rainforest Trust and Trees For The Future.
In the last 12 months, Passenger has scaled to over £33m in sales. 25% of the business is outside the UK, with 40 staff based in its New Forest HQ and a further 25 staff in its Yorkshire based distribution centre. #2 on the UK's Growth 100 list, Passenger is on track to achieve £50m in sales this year with a 345% revenue CAGR over 2 years.
The Osborne Clarke corporate team that advised Passenger was led by partner Rob Wood who was supported by senior associate Sian Daly and paralegal Susannah Cox.
On working with Osborne Clarke, Justin Stone former exec chairman at Passenger said: "It's been a pleasure working with Rob, Sian and Susannah on this transaction with Growth Partner and Steve Hewitt. The team at Osborne Clarke clearly understood our needs and provided excellent advice throughout the process, always being available and helping us deliver to a tight timetable".
Rob said: "We have very much enjoyed advising Passenger and its shareholders on the next stage of their journey. With strong values and sustainability at its core, Passenger is a truly responsible business that understands what its customers want."
Osborne Clarke's Corporate team, which is Band 1 ranked for its venture and growth capital work by the Legal 500, is considered a go-to practice for many companies, working with global businesses to fast-growth start-ups and market challengers. The team advises at every stage of company development across all corporate issues, from equity and debt fundraisings to M&A, IPOs and JVs.
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