Three buyers emerge for V&D department stores

Three buyers have emerged for the 62-strong V&D department store chain and 122 La Place restaurants which are being sold by the Maxeda retail group, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Wednesday.


All three are investment groups which plan to overhaul the stores and sell them on for a profit, the paper says, quoting sources close to the talks.
Sources say one of the potential bidders is Dutch private equity firm H2 Equity Partners and a second is London-based Merchant Capital Partners. The third was not named.
Bids could be made at any moment, the paper said.
Bijenkorf
Sources also suggest that Dutch investor Marcel Boekhoorn, who launched the free newspaper De Pers several years ago, is interested in the Bijenkorf flagship department stores which will be sold later.
Private equity groups interested in international expansion are the only buyers interested in the Hunkemöller and M&S retail outlets, the paper says.
Maxeda confirmed this summer it is to sell off shop operations V&D/LaPlace, de Bijenkorf, Hunkemöller and M&S as separate entitites after saying in February it had embarked upon a strategic reorientation of its retail operations.
Maxeda is owned by private equity groups KKR, Cinven, Alpinvest and Permira. They bought, delisted and rebranded the Vendex KBB group in 2004.

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