The investment by Man FinCo, the investment arm of Mansour Group, could rise to $60m if the conglomerate takes up an option to increase its stake.
US-based e-cigarette manufacturer Electronic Cigarettes International secured $20m of funding yesterday from conglomerate Mansour Group in a deal that could eventually rise to $60m.
Mansour, which made the investment through its corporate venturing unit, Man FinCo, has the option to increase its investment by an additional $40m at a later date. Taking Electronic Cigarettes’ opening price on OTC Markets at the start of trading yesterday, the initial deal would give Mansour a stake of just over 3%.
Founded in 2010 as Victory Cigarettes, the company began selling its own brand of e-cigarettes online before expanding into offline retail in 2013.
Victory merged with competitor Fin Branding Group in March 2014 and acquired UK-based rival Ten Motives in a $104m deal in June. The company filed for a listing on Nasdaq earlier this year.
Mohamed Mansour, Mansour Group chairman, said: “We have a long history in the tobacco business building up leading international brands over the past 20 years. We are convinced that electronic cigarettes will be a very significant business, and believe that ECIG will emerge as one of the global leaders.”
