Ideal Shopping Direct has its own TV studios at its Cambridgeshire HQ
General merchandise retailer Ideal Shopping Direct has a third investment firm owner in three years after Blackstone Private Equity agreed to sell the business to Aurelius, a pan-European mid-market investor.

The Peterborough based home shopping business sells primarily through TV channels such as Ideal World on networks including Freeview, Virgin and Sky.

In a press release, Aurelius said it will work alongside the company’s existing management team "to implement a transformation programme focused on driving operational improvement at the business, boost its UK brand recognition and enhance the breadth and quality of its customer offering."

Terms of the takeover were not immediately disclosed.

In November 2015, Blackstone acquired Ideal Shopping Direct from Inflexion, another buyout company, in a deal worth an estimated £159 million.

Inflexion had taken the retailer private in a £78 million deal in 2011, with Ideal Shopping Direct having been previously publicly-owned with its shares traded on the Alternative Investors Market (AIM).

Ideal Shopping Direct sales fell 7.0 percent to £142.3 million in 2016, its latest available accounts. It recorded profits from continuing operations of £7 million but an overall net loss of £4.7 million, including a deficit on currency translation and losses from discontinued operations.

Full year 2017 revenues totalled £145 million, according to the Aurelius press release announcing the acquisition.