The former bosses of Tesco and Topshop, Sir Terry Leahy and Sir Philip Green have teamed up to tap the public markets to fund a discount retail chain called B&M Value Retail. Valued at GBP 2.7bn, the company now has Leahy as its chairman, though it’s not been made public exactly what share he holds in the company. The original owners of the company, who built it into a 350-store network, netted a GBP 1bn payout to step away from the company.
The Guardian quotes the Investec analyst Kate Calvert as saying the retail market continues to produce investor excitement. “Deals are still getting done,” she said. “There have been a huge number of IPOs in the past few months, but retailers that are different and have attractive stores are still finding investors. They are just being a bit more selective.”
