Wyevale Garden Centres rumoured to have made £175m bid for Dobbies ahead of tomorrow's deadline
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Wyevale Garden Centres are plotting a £175m takeover of Dobbies Garden Centres and have appointed Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs to assist in the bid, according to Sky News reports.
Sky News claims Wyevale owners Terra Firma have tabled a bid for Dobbies, which has been put up for sale by Tesco.
Tesco has set a deadline of tomorrow (Wednesday) for initial offers for Dobbies, which made a loss of nearly £50m last year
Many of Dobbies' outlets are attached to Tesco stores, but the gardening chain has been put up for sale by the supermarket's boss as part of a clearout of non-core assets.
A successful bid by Wyevale for Dobbies could attract scrutiny from competition regulators and prompt the disposal of a number of stores, says Sky News. It could also raise questions about the future of the company's Midlothian head office.
Several private equity firms are also said to be preparing bids ahead of Wednesday's deadline.
Wyevale's bid follows a number of previous attempts by Terra Firma boss Guy Hands to buy Dobbies in recent years.
Justin King, the former Sainsbury's boss who now runs Terra Firma's portfolio, recently recruited Roger McLaughlan, a former Asda and Toys 'R' Us' executive, to run Wyevale Garden Centres.
His appointment put an end to speculation that Terra Firma was preparing for an imminent auction of Wyevale, which reports have suggested could command a £700m price tag.
Terra Firma, which also owns Odeon and UCI Cinemas and the care home chain Four Seasons Health Care, declined to comment today.
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