Ex-Asda chief Archie Norman is reported to be preparing with private equity backers to make a £1.3 billion for catering giant Brakes.
Norman, who spent several successful years at Asda in the 1990s, is understood to be planning to get together with two of the main bidding parties, which comprise US buyout firms Blackstone Group and Bain Capital as well as UK-based CVC Capital Partners and Cinven, the newspaper said in an unsourced report.
According to Reuters, as long ago as November, it was told that private equity firm Clayton Dubilier Rice (CDR) was mulling the sale of its Brakes business in the second half of 2007 as it seeks to realise £434m.
The Times report said investment banks JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank have been hired to sell Brakes and are preparing to send financial information to potential buyers this week.
