Phones4U deal expected to complete next month

LAW firm Wragge & Co’s corporate group has said its work on the successful sale of the Phones 4u business to private equity house BC Partners is expected to complete next month.

US-based Providence Equity and the Phones 4u management team sold the mobile phone retailer – founded by Staffordshire entrepreneur John Caudwell – earlier this month in a deal worth around £700m .

Acting for the management team, partner Baljit Chohan and associate Mohammed Majid led on the deal. They said that subject to regulatory approval, the deal was expected to complete in April.

The team worked closely with group counsel Steven Lloyd and chief operating officer Phil Dobson on the disposal of the business, which owns more than 500 stores nationwide.

Mr Chohan said: “Our corporate M&A, private equity and retail sector expertise, combined with an in-depth understanding of the client’s commercial objectives, ensured we delivered against a tight timeframe.

“Coordinating with the team’s other advisers, we worked seamlessly to drive the deal through in what remains a challenging acquisition environment.”

Phones 4u, which launched in 1996, is one of the UK’s fastest growing independent mobile phone retailers. Wragge & Co originally advised the management team on the £1.46bn acquisition of the business from Mr Caudwell in 2006.

Providence Equity invests predominantly in the media, entertainment, communications and information sectors. Investing in more than 100 companies in its 20-year history, it has $23bn of capital under management.

In this latest transaction, Weil Gotshal & Manges acted for Providence and Dickson Minto advised BC Partners.

BC Partners is a leading private equity firm with advised funds of €10bn. Since inception, BC Partners has invested in 74 companies with a total enterprise value of €68bn.

The multi-million pound deal is the latest in a series of major transactions for Wragge & Co’s corporate group, which advises on a full range of corporate finance matters.