Barclays Leveraged Finance and Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander provided debt facilities for the acquisition, in which Duke Street was advised by McQueen, SJ Berwin, Javelin Group and PwC Transaction Services. Barclays Private Equity was advised by KPMG Corporate Finance and Addleshaw Goddard.
Barclays Private Equity invested £18.42m in the buy-in management buy-out (BIMBO) of the Original Factory Shop in November 2004. Under BPE’s ownership, the Burnley-based business has increased its number of stores from 54 to 84, enabling it to provide full geographic coverage in the UK. In 2005, George Foster, former chief executive of TJ Hughes, was installed as CEO.
Established in 1969 as part of Peter Black’s, selling over-makes and seconds produced for Marks and Spencer, the Original Factory Shop currently retails discounted merchandise including ladies-wear, mens-wear, childrens-wear, sports-wear, foot-wear, electrical products, house-wares, toys and gifts, and beauty products and fragrances.
“Our business has grown strongly over the past couple of years backed by Barclays Private Equity,” said Foster. “Consumer spending is constantly rumoured to be on the downturn, but we strongly believe the Original Factory Shop is well placed to weather any storm in the retail sector.”
Duke Street said that it would continue to support a store roll-out programme across the UK. The firm’s previous investments in the UK retail sector include Sandpiper, the largest retailer in the Channel Island, and Oasis Healthcare, a dentists’ chain.
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