The Hut Group is today announcing the acquisition of Zavvi, the movie, games and music retailer. Part of the acquisition sees the business taking ownership of www.zavvi.co.uk, which re-launches today.

Clearwater Corporate Finance advised The Hut Group on the deal, which will see the creation of up to 100 jobs over the next 12 months at their head office in Northwich, Cheshire, where the company also runs thehut.com.

The new Zavvi website will offer consumers a much broader range of entertainment products as well as a new range of lifestyle products, including electricals, computing & perfumes. Zavvi.co.uk will be driven by a major focus on delivering exceptional customer service and product availability at much lower price points than previously on offer. Free delivery will be standard on all products sold on the Zavvi website. Today’s launch of Zavvi.co.uk will be supported by an extra 10 percent discount on all products until midnight on Friday 6 March.

Matthew Moulding, CEO of The Hut Group, comments, “Zavvi is a major player in entertainment retail, both in the UK and Ireland. Our aim is to capitalise on this well recognised high street brand and transform the business into a leading class online retailer, not only in entertainment, but also across lifestyle products. The new discounted price points, supported by significant future investment in customer-driven functionality improvements, should enable us to create an exciting online retailer.

“The team is excited about the opportunities this acquisition presents and the growth plans across The Group will be supported by our continuing drive to add talented new members to the team across most disciplines.”

The Group anticipates achieving sales of more than £75 million in 2009, having achieved a turnover of £25 million in 2008. The Hut Group currently employs over 100 people.

Carl Houghton, partner with Clearwater Corporate Finance added; “The Hut Group is a welcome bright spot amidst the doom and gloom in the retail sector. Through mergers and acquisitions, The Hut Group intends to push into further categories and is a transformational partner for good but subscale B2C e-commerce businesses.”