Debt-laden Very Group secures £150m breathing space for sale

Luke Barr

Mon 16 February 2026 at 3:15 pm GMT+9 3 min read

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Carlyle also converted some debt into equity to reduce pressure from interest payments on the business

The lender that seized control of Very from the Barclay family has provided the online retailer with £150m in financial support while it attempts to engineer a sale.

US investment giant Carlyle has pumped new money into Very as part of a support package to ease financial pressures on the debt-laden business.

As well as providing a cash injection, Carlyle has also converted some of its debt into equity to help reduce pressure on the retailer from interest payments.

The Telegraph understands that Carlyle’s total package is £150m.

The support is part of a broader refinancing, which has been carried out as Carlyle tries to sell the company for £2bn.

Bankers at Barclays and JPMorgan have been tasked with selling the business after Carlyle took control of Very in November 2025, ending the Barclay family’s involvement in the retailer after two decades.

Before that, Carlyle had been the retailer’s main corporate lender.

International Media Investments (IMI), the Abu Dhabi media vehicle that was involved in a failed effort to acquire The Telegraph from the Barclay family, also became a major lender to Very in that complex transaction.

Both Carlyle and IMI helped to keep the Liverpool-based business afloat as the Barclays’ business empire unravelled.

Carlyle is now seeking to put the company, which sells a wide range of clothes, toys and electrical goods, on a more stable footing ahead of a potential sale.

In addition to its own £150m support package, which is aimed at reducing debts, Very is also understood to have secured more breathing space from other external lenders. Bosses are expected to announce details of the financing on Monday.

The business has extended a £150m credit facility for another three years until February 2030, while also prolonging a £1.8bn “securitisation facility” until February 2028.

Otherwise known as consumer credit, this £1.8bn pot provided by a consortium of banks was set to expire next year.

Very has also secured better terms on some of its borrowings, which were a total of £2.3bn last year, according to company filings. That is compared with revenues of £2bn from 4.4 million customers.

Robbie Feather, chief executive of Very, hailed the company’s strong trading performance over Christmas when sales grew 1.9pc in the six weeks to Dec 27.

The latest refinancing follows a prolonged period of uncertainty for Very, which was caught up in the crisis engulfing the Barclays.

The family had launched an aborted attempt to sell the business in early 2025 before Carlyle seized control in November.

The change in ownership led to Very posting losses of £500m in 2025 after it was forced to write off a major loan to its former owners. This brought an end to the family’s involvement in the business.

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Very, which was once viewed as the jewel in the crown of the Barclays’ empire, was formed 20 years ago through the merger of Littlewoods and Shop Direct, overseen by Sir Frederick Barclay and the late Sir David Barclay.

Aidan Barclay, the eldest of Sir David’s four sons, chaired the business until May 2024, when he was replaced by Nadhim Zahawi.

As well as losing control of Very, the Barclays have also lost a string of other prized assets in recent years, including The Telegraph.

Very declined to comment.

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