Hotel Chocolat to raise £55.5 million

Hotel Chocolat will be worth a tasty £167 million when it lists on AIM next week after the shares up for grabs were today priced at 148p each.

Co-founders Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris are set for a windfall of at least £20 million each from the float, which will raise £55.5 million.

A planned £12 million will be reinvested in the business to roll out its new café format and its “classic boutiques”, with £43.5 million split between staff and senior management.

Thirlwell said he was “delighted” with the “strong demand” received for the listing.

“We had a wide variety [of interest] from some of the real blue-chip funds and two private wealth managers and we’ve ended up with a really well-balanced share register,” he told the Standard. Thirlwell and Harris, who first worked together in 1987, will retain two-thirds of the business, worth £110 million.