Is Matalan up for sale?
October 2009
Retail giant Matalan is rumoured to be up for sale this evening with PricewaterhouseCoopers hired to advise the company about a potential £1.5 billion sale. Despite the rivers of blood on the UK high street, the Matalan clothing chain has performed very well throughout the recession and majority shareholder John Hargreaves, who took the business back under private control in 2006, is set to liquidate a massive profit on his £827 million acquisition.
When Matalan was listed on the UK stock market there was a feeling, at least with John Hargreaves, that the company was undervalued and underappreciated by investors. However when you consider he could basically doubled his money in less than three years if the £1.5 billion deal goes through, then perhaps the stock market may have got it wrong. While nothing is guaranteed with regards to Matalan, it is rumoured that the company has received several approaches from private equity firms and is in very early stage talks regarding a possible sale.
This may be the first piece of positive news on the UK high street for many months and may, if the UK economy finally recovers, be the first of a number of significant acquisitions led by the private equity sector.
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