Pets at Home groomed for market debut
FINANCE firm KKR has fired the starting gun on a £1.5bn stock market listing of UK pet store Pets at Home.
The Wall Street group, which took over Pets at Home in 2010, has asked Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Nomura to draw up plans to sell its stake in the company to public investors.
The plan, first reported by Sky News, would make Pets at Home a FTSE 250 listed company if it floats at current valuations.
It comes just days after KKR announced plans to float French flooring company Tarkett, underlining the growing appetite to exit firms via a float.
The move to weigh the proposal comes after Pets at Home boss Nick Wood laid out plans to KKR to open a further 150 stores over the next three years, taking the tally to over 500 shops. Operating profits rose above £100m for the first time last year. All parties declined to comment.