Online greeting card specialist Moonpig is set to acquire gifting experience firm Buyagift for £124m as the firm eyes up the growing £6bn gift experiences sector.
Buyagift was launched in 1999 and bought by French-owned Smartbox Group UK in 2019. Its main subsidiary is Red Letter Days, which was launched in 1989.
Buyagift and Red Letter Days have a customer base of 3.3 million offering a range of physical and experiential gifts delivered through more than 4,400 partners. Their 4,800 experiences include short stays, theatre and shows, dining out, afternoon tea and family days out.
Moonpig, meanwhile, was launched in 2000 and now has 13 million customers for its personalised greeting cards, flowers and gifts.
The firm said the deal will drive cross selling opportunities by using Smartbox’s dataset to drive highly relevant gift recommendations across thousands of new products.
Moonpig Group chief executive Nickyl Raithatha said: “The proposed acquisition of Buyagift rapidly accelerates Moonpig Group’s journey to become the ultimate gifting companion. There is strong strategic rationale for the transaction, and compelling financial benefits.
“Buyagift is profitable and highly cash generative, with a proven track record of strong growth and we are excited by the ways that we can further transform the business using the Group’s proven playbook.
“We see significant potential for the cross-selling of gifting experiences to Moonpig Group’s loyal customers. We look forward to working with the Buyagift team to deliver an enhanced proposition for our customers and to create value for our shareholders.”
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