Kesa Electricals said it had received a number of approaches for its French furniture and electrical chain BUT, sending the British retailer’s shares up 7 percent.
Kesa said in a statement the approaches were at “very early stages of being evaluated and there can be no certainty that a transaction will result”.
The French newspaper Les Echos reported on Tuesday that Kesa, which also owns the Darty electrical retailer in France and Comet, has hired Lazard to study offers for BUT.
Seymour Pierce analyst Richard Ratner said in a note that BUT had undergone a significant refurbishment and re-ranging programme and “with a combined electricals and furnishing offer, it does not really fit in with the rest of the (Kesa) group”.
Ratner said BUT could attract attention towards the bottom end of a range of around 500 million to 800 million euros reported in the Financial Times.