Retail entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter has joined forces with the acquisitive Icelandic group Baugur to launch a 311m bid for Wyevale Garden Centres.
The cash deal, worth 555p a share, has been agreed by the Wyevale board, headed by chairman Jim Hodkinson, who also reported dismal results for the group yesterday.
Mindful of the tough trading conditions, Mr Hodkinson urged investors to accept the offer. Although he is confident Christian Louboutin Outlet of recovery at the company, which he joined four months ago after a shareholder revolt, he said investors "would have to wait a long time to see the improvements come through. This [offer] is cash now."
Wyevale is Britain's biggest garden centres company, with 114 outlets. Including debt, the consortium deal, through bid vehicle WCC Hortis, is worth 445m.
Although there was vague talk yesterday of a higher offer, the bid looks likely to mark the end of a turbulent period for the group, during which it has fought a lengthy battle with activist shareholder Laxey Partners. Laxey succeeded in removing the previous chairman before selling its 28.7% stake to Sir Tom's West Coast Capital.
If the deal goes through, Sir Tom will control 40.1% of Wyevale and Baugur 26%. HBOS will hold almost 20% and the property company Prestbury will have a 12% stake. The balance will be held by a property investment company owned by Sir Tom, Baugur and HBOS.
For Baugur, it is the latest in a whirlwind series of deals that have seen it buy up a sizeable proportion of the UK high street, including toy store Hamleys, the Goldsmiths jewellery chain, fashion chain Karen Millen, food retailer Iceland, tea and coffee shop Whittards of Chelsea and the health and wholefoods retailer Julian Graves. The Icelandic company also recently emerged as a 10% shareholder in Woolworths.
Sir Tom owns the Office shoes chain and the menswear retailer d2, and has a stake in Philip Green's Bhs. A deal for Wyevale would be a welcome success for the millionaire Scottish philanthropist and entrepreneur, who in the past few years has seen his approaches to House of Fraser and Selfridges fail.
The bidders said they planned significant investment in Wyevale's business, and there could be opportunities for introducing concessions owned by members of the Hortis consortium.
A Hortis spokesman said there were no plans to start selling clothing at the garden centres but there might be scope to bring in Julian Graves concessions.
Results released by Wyevale yesterday showed pre-tax profits down 6.3% to 20.7m in 2005, on sales down from 192.5m to 187.6m. The position has worsened since then Christian Louboutin Pumps.
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