600 million euro instead of 800 million
According to Bloomberg, Maxeda may no longer be willing to sell its DIY chains, containing Praxis, Formido, Brico and Plan-it. The owners had expected to fetch a certain amount, but the final bidding round did no yield positive results.
Investment groups Cinven Partners, LLP and Permira, the combined owners of Maxeda DIY, had hoped to get at least 800 million euro, but that does not seem to be the case. The highest bid was allegedly around 600 million euro and that has prompted the owners to keep Maxeda in its ranks while refinancing the current loans for the DIY group. New debts would be created, while the owners pay themselves dividends.
Nothing decided yet
Bloomberg emphasizes that no decision has been made so far and that all options are still on the table. Some of the possibly buyers are large investment groups like CVC Capital Partners, Pamplona Capital Management and Sun Capital.
The current owners purchased Maxeda back in 2004 for 2 billion euro, but the group has been systematically stripped and sold off in chunks. The electronics chains were sold off in 2007, fashion in 2010 and now it is the DIY chain’s turn. Maxeda currently has 376 stores in the Benelux area and employs 7,000 people.
