Orogen proposes reverse takeover of Sosandar

Orogen Plc, a cash shell, has announced it is to acquire Thread 35 Ltd, which operates as women’s e-commerce brand Sosander as a reverse takeover under AIM rules.

Under the terms of the buyout, AIM-listed Orogen will acquire Sosandar parent company Thread 35 Ltd for 6.3 million pounds, which is subject to shareholder approval.

Shareholders will meet at Orogen's general meeting on November 1 to vote on whether the acquisition will go through, and if successful, the new company would trade under the name of Sosandar plc and new ticker symbol “SOS”. The new group is expected to be admitted to trading on AIM on November 2.

Orogen has also announced that it has conditionally raised 5.3 million pounds (before expenses) through a conditional placing of 35,099,338 new Ordinary Shares at 15.1 pence per share, which will be used to finance the development of Thread and for working capital.

Sosandar was launched last year by former Look magazine editor and publisher Ali Hall and Julie Lavington, with the aim of curating a “one-stop shop for the affluent, professional woman who has graduated from price-led alternatives”. The womenswear brand has completed two seed investment rounds to fund the design of the initial Sosandar fashion range from scratch, to build the 'mobile-first' website and develop a scalable supply chain including overseas manufacturers and UK based logistics suppliers.

Womenswear brand Sosandar to be acquired by Orogen

Under the new proposed Sosandar plc, both Hall and Lavington would become joint chief executive officers of the new group, while Bill Murray, chairman of Thread will remain in that role and Orogen chairman Adam Reynolds will become a non-executive director.

Nick Mustoe will also join the board as a non-executive director and Steve Metcalfe will step down from the board.

Adam Reynolds, chairman of Orogen, said: “We are delighted to announce the proposed Acquisition of the Sosandar business, a design-led online womenswear brand. Sosandar is well positioned to benefit from the rapidly expanding online women’s fashion market and we believe will deliver value for Shareholders having recognised an underserved segment of the market.

“Sosandar’s management team has extensive experience with the fashion sector, a solid understanding of their target demographic and is well connected with the fashion and media industries. Since its inception in 2016, Sosandar has quickly established itself and is already creating a stir in the fashion industry.”

Images: Sosandar Facebook