Today (19 January), Moonpig Group revealed further details of its plans to float, including confirmation that it plans to list on the London Stock Exchange’s main market with a premium listing.

It also confirmed that funds managed by BlackRock and Dragoneer Global Fund II had entered into “cornerstone agreements” for £130m-worth of offer shares, made up of £80m from BlackRock and £50m from Dragoneer.

This equates to an equity value of up to £1.2bn for the £173.1m turnover personalised greetings cards and gifting group, which has enjoyed stratospheric growth over the Covid-19 pandemic period as people shopped for cards and gifts from home.

The final offer price “will be determined following a book-building process”, the firm stated.

Chief executive Nickyl Raithatha said: “As the market leading platform, with a strong track record, and a huge opportunity to grow, we are confident about our decision to become a publicly traded business.”

Moonpig Group is targeting a free float of at least 25% of the company's issued share capital at admission, which is expected to take place next month.

It also said that it was targeting a ratio of less than 2.0x net debt to EBITDA for the year ended 30 April 2021. “In connection with this, the primary offer of new shares is expected to raise gross proceeds of circa £20m,” the firm stated.

The shares will be offered to “certain institutional and professional investors in the UK and elsewhere outside the United States”.

Moonpig is currently owned by private equity firm Exponent. The business is gearing up for the peak Valentine's Day sales period, which is likely to be even busier this year due to lockdown restrictions.

Moonpig’s fortunes are a stark contrast to industry peer Moo, which in the past had also been subject to speculation that it could float, but over the past year has seen its sales decimated by the pandemic.