Since the publication of a blog post on Sky News by Mark Kleinman the rumours circulating about the sell off of the beleaguered electrical retailer Comet have been set alight leading to further speculation that the retailer will, at some point, be sold off to the highest bidder. It would appear that pressure to sell off the UK arm of Darty is increasing.
Mr Kleinman wrote that;
People close to the situation tell me that an approach from any of the private equity firms looking at Kesa is by no means definite, and PAI’s interest is “very tentative”, I’m told.
But investment funds eyeing a takeover or break-up of the retail group may be offered encouragement by Knight Vinke, the activist shareholder that is Kesa’s biggest investor.
People close to Kesa say that Knight Vinke has made it clear to the company’s board that “the status quo is not an option” and that it should consider breaking itself up.
Comet this week replaced its long-serving managing director, Hugh Harvey, replacing him with Bob Darke, following a period of poor trading.
In January, Kesa said that like-for-like sales at Comet between November 1 and January 18 had fallen by 7.3 per cent and that Comet would record a loss for the year. Kesa is due to deliver a trading update to the City next week.
A person close to one of the buyout firms looking at Kesa said that its interest was in Darty, the French chain, and that Comet was “of little or no economic value”.
Shares in Kesa Electricals rallied on the back of this news as the vultures started to circle.
Then, earlier this week other media sources started to pick the story up and run with it the BBC reporting today that this will likely lead to the delisting of Kesa from the London Stock Exchange, leaving the holding company with a listing in Paris.