B&M backer cuts stake and raises £384m
THE US-based private equity investor CD&R has sold a 12% stake in B&M Bargains, the Liverpool-based retail discount chain, raising £384m.
It is understood that Tuesday was the first time the group could sell any shares since last year’s £2bn flotation. Shares in B&M, which is run by the Arora brothers, were issued in the float at 270p and were last night trading at 323.5p.
Market sources said that the deal was initially launched for 100m shares, but was increased to 120m due to sufficient demand.
The sale was handled by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank. Goldman Sachs, which was a global co-ordinator on the original flotation, wasn’t involved in yesterday’s share sale. Lazard acted as a financial adviser to CD&R.
After the sale the New York-based private equity group will own 17.4% of B&M, which was founded in Blackpool in 1978, but is now based in Speke.
The group has ambitious growth plans. In this country it is opening more stores in the south and east, while it has also acquired a business, JA Woll, in Germany.
CD&R, or Clayton, Dubilier & Rice as it is more formally known, invested in B&M in December 2012 in one of the North West’s biggest-ever private equity deals.
