Hunter Boot is seeking £5 million from existing shareholders and £2m from its lenders ahead of a possible sale of the company.

The Royal Warrant holder, whose wet weather boots have been associated with celebrity festival attenders such as the model Kate Moss and the late Diana, Princess of Wales, is working with AlixPartners on fund raising.

One source told Sky News: “Hunter is a great business, and this financing sets it up well to capture the opportunities available in the year ahead.”

The company was saved in 2020 through a £16.5m capital injection, part of which came from Pall Mall Legacy, a fund backed by Goldman Sachs and Three Hills Capital Partners, an existing shareholder.

Pall Mall Legacy owns the majority of Hunter’s shares, with Searchlight Capital Partners, a private equity firm, and Pentland Group, the sportswear giant behind brands such as Speedo, holding the remainder.

Hunter, which was founded in 1856 as the North British Rubber Company in Scotland, is understood to have seen a post-COVID rebound in sales, with revenue in China accounting for a chunk of that recent growth.

The cancellation of live entertainment events and music festivals such as Glastonbury has had a particularly severe impact on Hunter, which has long been associated with celebrities such as Moss.

Hunter has increasingly diversified into a broader range of lifestyle products but has exited its retail store portfolio such as its former flagship on London’s Regent Street with the exception of a site at Bicester Village and Woodbury in New York.