Five bidders woo £1.5bn Matalan
FIVE private equity groups are understood to have submitted first round bids for the budget clothing and homewares retailer Matalan.
According to reports TPG, Blackstone, Warburg Pincus, BC Partners and Advent International have all bid for the privately-owned Lancashire firm that is being sold with a £1.5bn price tag.
Matalan founder and owner John Hargreaves put the Skelmersdale-based company up for sale last month.
The former Liverpool market trader is being advised by the Manchester-based Colin Gillespie, corporate finance partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Mr Hargreaves stands to make hundreds of millions of pounds if a deal goes through. He owns 100% after taking the chain private in 2006 for £817m.
Matalan’s board met to discuss the offers yesterday following a first round bid deadline on Tuesday.
The company, which has more than 200 stores nationwide, has performed strongly in the last 18 months. In the year to February operating profits rose from £89.4m to £102m.
