Carlyle in Talks to Offload UK E-commerce Giant The Very Group for £2 Billion

The Very Group, for sale. The private equity firm Carlyle, owner of the British ecommerce group, is in talks for the possible sale of the company for a value of 2,000 million pounds ($2.67 billion), according to British media reports. The transaction is expected to be completed in the next few days.

Plans for the sale of The Very Group, which owns the Very and Little Woods brands, were published at Companies House (the UK equivalent of Companies House) by the administrators of Vgl Holdco, the company’s parent company.

Last November, PricewaterhouseCoopers (Pwc) was appointed to oversee the insolvency of Vgl Holdco, enabling Carlyle to acquire the company for a token £1.

The Very Group was taken over by Carlyle last November following the restructuring of the company’s debt

Carlyle first became involved in The Very Group’s equity in 2021 as a creditor. Three years later, investors in the UK company agreed to provide it with a 125 million pounds ($167.4 million) financing package of which 85 million pounds ($113 million) was to be used to fund the company, which involved its representation with seats on the board of The Very Group.

In November 2025, the private equity firm completed the full acquisition of the brand from the Barclay family, becoming a majority shareholder following the restructuring of the company’s debt. From 2021, Carlyle’s contribution to the company is estimated to exceed 500 million pounds ($669 million).

The Very Group announced an increase in profitability last month, reaching ebitda of 307 million pounds ($411.3 million) in the 2025 financial year ended June 28th. Group sales stood at 2.1 billion pounds ($2.8 billion).