Lumina Capital Advisers: Middle East Investors Invest Into UK-Based Amara Living

Lumina Capital Advisers Limited, a Dubai-headquartered, specialist mid-market M&A firm, today announced the successful completion of an equity funding round, with participation from a consortium of Middle East investors, into UK-based Amara Living Ltd (www.amara.com). The Lumina team, consisting of Andrew Nichol, Gareth Williams and Feico Boonstra, lead-advised the regional group of investors.

As consumer attention turns to the home and online retail, a consortium of Middle East investors has invested in Amara Living Ltd, the UK’s leading online retailer of lifestyle homewares.

Founded in 2005 by Andrew and Sam Hood, Amara Living Ltd sells over 25,000 products from a range of leading brands including Missoni, Versace, and Jo Malone. Over 50% of sales are now from international markets, mainly USA and Europe.

The company recently expanded its distribution footprint to the Middle East, which is a key growth market with strong consumer demand for online access to Amara Living’s wide portfolio of aspirational homewares and curated gifts sourced from around the world.

 Andrew Nichol, Lumina Capital Advisers Partner said: “Amara Living’s new regional shareholders will help the company to expand its footprint across Middle East markets through distribution, partner and client access.

The family-centric market and strong gifting culture across the Middle East represents a significant customer base for homewares, while consumer demand for online access to Amara’s wide and expertly curated products paves the way for significant expansion across the region.

By bringing together a business with real potential for growth in the Middle East and a group of regional investors, Lumina reconfirms its position as a leading cross-border Middle East / UK adviser. This deal is a great example of harnessing regional capital to help UK companies to achieve their growth ambitions, while enhancing value by opening up Middle East regional markets in a swift and efficient manner via skills, capital and talent sharing. We look forward to watching Amara’s continued global growth as it benefits from its expanded funding lines and access to new markets.”

Andrew Hood, Managing Director, Amara Living said: “This deal is an important achievement for us and we welcome all of our new shareholders into this round. We look forward to working with our new Middle East partners, and are thankful to Lumina, not only for helping us to source capital from the region, but also for finding us new partners with whom we are truly excited to work with to expand the brand’s reach across the region.”

On the back of an initially strong start to 2020, with equity markets demonstrating strong growth, alongside private sector valuations, the impact of Covid-19 is now being felt across the M&A sector. While the rationale for cross-border deals remains, in diversifying regional investors’ portfolios and bringing skills and technologies back into the region, deals in general are either being shelved, or delayed, in all but the most defensive, resilient or least affected of sectors.

As well as e-commerce, we are seeing transactions in food delivery, agriculture and distribution industries. In summary, pro-active companies are now seeking to bunker down during this period, with a focus on cash-flow and contingency planning, working capital and best-managing the current situation while being ready for market recovery when it does come.