By Timothy S. Donahue
Top Takeaways:
- UK vaping company Plxsur entered administration after running out of cash and failing to attract funding, and was then sold for £76,500.
- Administrators said Plxsur signed 12 option-style acquisition agreements, including deals with manufacturers in Latvia and the Czech Republic, but completed no acquisitions.
- Plxsur had pitched outsized targets, including $1B in revenue and $200M+ in earnings, which administrators described as aspirational and contingent on acquisitions being completed.
UK-based vaping company Plxsur entered administration after failing to secure new investment and running out of cash. The company was then bought out of the insolvency process for £76,500 (US$97,000), abruptly ending its attempt to build a global vaping conglomerate, according to media reports.
Citing documents from administrator KR8 Advisory Ltd., media reported that Plxsur had signed 12 agreements granting it options to acquire vaping operations — including manufacturers in Latvia and the Czech Republic — but that the group did not complete any acquisitions.
Despite having no ownership in its partner businesses, Plxsur touted aggressive growth plans in investor materials. In a March 2024 corporate presentation, the company said it could capture about 10% of the global vaping market, increase annual revenue to $1 billion, and generate more than $200 million in earnings.
KR8’s report said the figures were aspirational, reflecting the scale Plxsur might have achieved had the planned acquisitions been completed.
The company’s pitch deck and “Year in Review” materials also described Plxsur as a coalition of 12 local companies, reported 2023 group revenues of $1 billion, and stated adjusted EBITDA of “over $200m,” while setting a longer-term target of 20% market share.
Plxsur hired Goldman Sachs bankers to run a sale process, but could not secure a “Big Tobacco” buyer. After the sale effort was paused, Plxsur later selected Stifel Financial Corp. to seek credit investors willing to finance its acquisition strategy, but no deal materialized, according to people familiar with the matter.
Sources told media that HPS Investment Partners came closest to providing a loan before walking away. A separate proposal, later considered by investors led by New York-based private equity firm Cartesian Capital Group, would have involved roughly $90 million and a merger with a Nasdaq-listed SPAC, but that transaction also collapsed.
By late 2025, Plxsur’s cash position had deteriorated, and without operating cash flow or new equity or debt funding, the company fell into insolvency, according to Bloomberg. KR8’s report identified the buyer out of administration as James Cox, a Plxsur shareholder.
A Goldman representative declined to comment to Bloomberg, and Stifel, HPS and Cartesian did not respond to requests for comment, Bloomberg said.
Under UK insolvency rules, administration aims to rescue a company as a going concern where possible, or, failing that, to achieve a better outcome for creditors than liquidation. Plxsur’s case highlights the difficulty of financing consolidation strategies in the vaping sector amid tighter regulation and capital-market caution — particularly for acquisition-driven models that rely on continuous access to new funding.
In previous media reports, Plxsur leadership said its partners had a combined market share of approximately 10 percent in the global $19.34 billion vaping market. Leadership said the company was targeting a 20 percent market share in the next five years.
The companies touted by Plxsur include Hale Vaping (Ireland), UEG Holland (Netherlands), DampShop (Belgium), Pro Vape (Latvia), Puff Store (Italy), Nobacco (Greece), Ritchy Group (Czech Republic), Vape Empire (Malaysia), Pacific Smoke (Canada) and CK Complex (Poland).
This story was edited to reflect exchange rates at time of sale.
