Stead & Simpson in management buyout helped by Bank of Scotland |
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Published
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Mon, 26 Dec 2005 03:05
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LONDON: Stead & Simpson Plc, the 400-store British chain that vends shoes, has been bought by its management in a 51.4 million-pound deal.
Bank of Scotland funded the deal. The buyout, led by chief executive David Lockyer and finance director Peter Foot, sees the exit of investor Development Securities Plc., a London building firm, which was bought into the business in the 1980s. It sold its 39 per cent stake in the shoe company for 13 million pounds and received repayment of a loan of 2 million pounds .
Syston, Leicester-based Stead & Simpson, one of the oldest British firms, whose stores operate under brand names such as Shoe Express and Peter Briggs, had engaged a consultancy firm to carry out a strategic review and recommend whether it should opt for sale or a flotation on the stock exchange.
The company has annual sales exceeding 140 million pounds and has some 3.700 people on its rolls. It started as a footwear maker, but stopped production to get into retail. It now sells shoes under its own brand name and stocks labels like Hush Puppies, Dr Martens, Clarks, Ecco and Wrangler footwear.
Bank of Scotland will get a stake in the new dispensation, while chairman John Shannon, who is reported to be retiring, will sell his holding which is worth 10 million pounds. Both Lockyer and Foot are learnt to have reinvested major portions of their sale proceeds back into the company.
The company will have a new chairman, Barry Stevenson, former director at Marks & Spencer and B&Q.
Lockyer said with the backing of Bank of Scotland, he looked forward to expanding the business.
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