Bridgepoint to sell half of its stake in Safestore

Deborah Sterescu
18 March 2010

Tweet
Facebook
LinkedIn
Google plus
Send to

Bridgepoint Capital has announced that it intends to sell up to 32 million ordinary shares in listed self-storage retailer Safestore Holdings plc, which is approximately half of its stake in the company.

The shares represent a maximum of 17% of the current issued ordinary share capital of Safestore. The placing price of the shares are to be disclosed shortly. Following the transaction, Bridgepoint will hold a stake of at least 17.9% in the business.

The investor has also committed, subject to limited carve outs, to not sell further shares in the company for a period of 90 days from today.

Safestore was initially listed in 1998 and was thereafter taken private by Bridgepoint in a management buyout deal worth £39.8m. The company pursued an acquisitive growth strategy and was floated on AIM in March 2007 with an initial market capitalisation of £449m.

Safestore is the UK's largest and Europe's second largest self storage provider. The company recorded revenues of £84.4m for the year ending 31 October 2009. Shares in the business were down 8.3% this morning to 139 pence.

J.P. Morgan Cazenove has been appointed sole bookrunner for the placing.