Retailer B&M set for £2bn flotation

Discount retailer B&M is poised for a stock market listing in a move that will value the company at around £2bn.

The firm was formed in 1978 and has 350 stores and about 15,000 staff, although it believes there is potential for up to 600 outlets.

Seen as a modern-day Woolworths, B&M has boosted its fortunes in recent years by branching out into clothes, pet food and toiletries, as well as through the opening of more stores away from its northern heartland.

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Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CDR), the American private equity firm that holds a controlling stake, has hired Lazard, the investment bank, to begin work on the share offering.

As many as 15 high street names with a value of more than £8bn are expected to float this year, but B&M would be one of the biggest.

Pets at Home, Poundland, House of Fraser, DFS and Card Factory are all reported to be working on plans for a public listing.

B&M’s chairman is the former Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy. CDR bought a majority stake in B&M in 2012.

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