The Hut Group is reportedly set to announce plans to move its listing to the premium segment of the London Stock Exchange in 2022.
Matthew Moulding, the boss of the online beauty group, is to surrender his golden share in the company in an effort to reassure investors.
Moulding will give up his “founder’s share” – which would prevent a hostile takeover of the company, Sky News reported.
READ MORE: Former Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy loses £30m on THG
Moulding is THG’s biggest shareholder with a 22 per cent stake.
The abolition of its dual-class share structure and the prospective shift to a premium LSE listing will be welcomed by institutional investors who saw the value of their holdings drop last week.
Some fund managers had objected to the extent of Moulding’s control ahead of its float last year, although THG said at the time that the ‘special share’ would be retired after a maximum of 36 months.
THG has been in discussions in recent days about appointing Andreas Hansson, a senior SoftBank executive, as a non-executive director.
The appointment, which has yet to be finalised, would cement a relationship between THG and the Japanese technology investment behemoth that was unveiled in May.
Since taking THG public, Moulding has established his status as one of the UK’s richest people, landing a share windfall worth more than £800 million late last year after hitting a number of financial targets set out in its flotation prospectus.
He already held a stake in the company worth about £1 billion.
Earlier this year, Moulding pledged a £100 million stake in the company to a new charitable foundation.
The company owns beauty sites such as Lookfantastic and Glossybox, and in August said it would pay about £275 million to take control of Cult Beauty.
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