There seems to be a lot of news but not a lot of substance over what’s going on at MFI. So far there’s rumours of a merger with Homeform, a British rival, which owns brands Moben, Kitchens Direct, Sharps and Dolphin. As time wears on this seems to be more and more widely reported giving more weight to the rumour and, interestingly, no denials from MFI.
This was reported in the UK Whitegoods trade “Rumour Mill” forum some time ago.
One thing seems to be coming clear however is that Merchant Equity Partners, MFI’s current owners, would appear to be looking seriously to find a partner for the furniture and kitchen retailer.
It has also emerged this week that Galiform has agreed to pay Merchant Equity Partners £8 million in settlement of a dispute arising from the sale of MFI’s retail business to the private equity firm.
The sum is supposed to be a full and final out-of-court settlement and represents a fraction of the £57 million that Merchant Equity had demanded.
Galiform chief executive Matthew Ingle said: “Not only does this demonstrate the strength of our case, it avoids a long, expensive and distracting process, provides closure on this issue and is well within the provision we made.”
It also would appear that the Howdens business which supplies builders mainly, has now been totally divorced from the MFI business. Reportedly Howdens was the only part of the groups that was making a profit before the buy out by Merchant Equity Partners in 2006, which bought MFI for a nominal £1.
Merchant Equity Partners is said to be exploring potential combinations for the business, as well as the possibility of attracting further investment.