Arora brothers seek £850m for B&M Retail
THREE South Manchester brothers, Simon, Bobby and Robin Arora, who have built up the fast-growing B&M Home Bargains discount stores chain, are ready to sell, it has emerged.
Based in Speke, south Liverpool, B&M is likely to be acquired by a private equity house and a price tag of £850m has been suggested.
According to The Sunday Telegraph a small number of major PE houses have been approached, including CVC, with a view to taking a majority stake in the business, which is one of the country’s fastest-growing retailers.
B&M like Liverpool-based Home Bargains has flourished over the last few years as consumers have become more value conscious due to the recession.
The Aroras bought B&M, then based in Blackpool in 2005. Thye have grown it from just 20 stores to 290 stores and the business has annual sales of £2bn and serves two million customers a week.
Investment bank Rothschild – which sold another fast growing North West retailer, Pets at Home, for £955m in one of the biggest PE deals of recent times – is leading the sale process, the newspaper said.
B&M is run by SImon Arora, a former 31 investment executive. The business has grown both sales and profits at around 25% a year, for the last four years.
It employs more than 10,000 and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation is £90m for the most recent financial year.
