Iglu has secured £7.5 million in funding from Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in a deal chief executive Richard Downs hailed as “recognition travel is an interesting market and the banks are loosening their wallets”.
The funding will allow online ski and cruise retailer Iglu to refinance its existing bank and shareholder debt with private equity firm GCP and also provide working capital.
Downs denied he has an acquisition deal in mind, but said “We are interested in potential targets or partners.”The new funding “gives the company the ability to move quickly”, he said.
Downs told Travel Weekly: “This shows the banks are more confident and open for business. They talked for a while about being open for business but had not followed through.
“There is a change – a recognition that travel is an interesting market again and the banks are loosening their very tight wallets – and that is for the better.
“It gives growing companies an opportunity to lower their average cost of funding.”GCP invested in Iglu two years ago and Downs said: “The banks were very slow then following the financial crisis and becoming a drag on deals.”
The GCP deal “gave us a chance to talk to banks with no pressure”, he said. It also allowed Iglu to acquire Planet Cruise last May.
Downs described Iglu as “a teenage dot.com” that had “matured through a number of venture capitalists”.
“We are in our 16th year and the management team at RBS were not new to us,” he said. “There is a long-term relationship, but there were others involved – RBS just pipped them.”
RBS consumer industries leisure and travel director Katherine Jeffrey said: “Iglu was an early pioneer of using the internet to transform retail distribution. It has grown to become a leader in its chosen retail sectors.”
Neil Parry, RBS consumer industries sector head, added: “This refinancing means the company is in a great position to grow and we are delighted to be able to support them.”