Post by (Gucci Taschen) Dec 2010
Sir Tom Hunter has sold his Office shoe chain to a private equity firm for about £150 million, netting the Ayrshire entrepreneur his second huge windfall in three days.
The sale of the upmarket retailer will allow Sir Tom to make a return of almost 10 times his investment in the firm.
It will also result in a multi- million-pound payday for Office's Scottish chief executive, Brian McCluskey.
Sir Tom has sold the business following a period during which Office has enjoyed dramatic growth in sales after cashing in on the boom in demand for branded footwear.
Office stocks a range that includes Converse shoes and Ugg boots, which have been flying off the shelves despite tough times for many firms on the high street. The chain grew sales by 30%, to £146m, in the year to January. Pre-tax profits surged to £15.6m, from £6.3m in the preceding period. Based on current trends Office is expected to achieve further growth in sales and profits in the current financial year.
The company's new owner, Silverfleet Capital, plans to roll out the successful formula overseas.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
However, Silverfleet is understood to have paid £150m.
This will allow Sir Tom to achieve a bumper return on his investment.
The entrepreneur bought the business for £16m in 2003, when it had just 20 stores. It currently has 75 stand-alone stores in the UK and the Republic of Ireland and 46 concessions in stores like House of Fraser and Topshop.
Sir Tom's West Coast Capital private equity firm had a 95% stake in Office, putting it in line to receive around £140m from the sale.
The disposal caps a remarkable few days for Sir Tom, who was one of the biggest individual beneficiaries of the $630m (£400m) sale of PSN to its Aberdeen rival, Wood Group.
West Coast Capital will receive about £32m for its 8% stake in PSN.
The gains will compensate Sir Tom for the hefty losses West Coast sustained on some of the investments it made in property markets before the sector crashed into reverse.
Sir Tom said the time was right to sell Office. "Having held Office for seven years and grown it to become the dominant UK fashion footwear business it was appropriate to sell to Silverfleet to oversee the next phase of growth."
Private equity firms often look to exit investments after around five years in order to realise any profits they have made and free up cash to invest elsewhere.
Sir Tom is understood to be in talks to acquire Cruise, the upmarket clothing chain that has its headquarters in Glasgow.
He said the management team led by Brian McCluskey had done an outstanding job at Office. Mr McCluskey had a 5% stake in Office that was valued at about £7.5m in the deal. He will continue as chief executive of Office.
Long a trusted lieutenant of Sir Tom's, Mr McCluskey was finance director of the Sports Division retail chain.
Sir Tom made an estimated £250m by selling Sports Division to JJB Sports in 1998.
Gareth Whiley, a partner at Silverfleet Capital, said: "Office is a great business with a management team that really understands what its customer wants.
"The young fashion sector of the footwear market is growing fast and there is still room for a roll-out of stores within the UK and potentially overseas."
Silverfleet's portfolio also includes the TJ Hughes department stores business.Wenn Sie an ugg boots günstig interessiert sind,bitte besuchen unsere Website:ugg boots günstig
Sir Tom Hunter sells Office shoe shop chain for £150m