Silverfleet sells TJ Hughes

Silverfleet Capital, the private equity house, has sold department store chain, TJ Hughes. It has been announced that they have sold the discount store to its management, but the sum is undisclosed. The management team, however,

have received backing from British private equity firm, Endless, to carry off the deal.

  TJ Hughes, which was founded by Thomas Hughes in Liverpool in 1912, was bought by Silverfleet in 2003 for £70m and grew the chain from 37 department stores to its current 57, including branches in Dumfries, Dundee and Glasgow, selling fashion, interior, beauty design brands and electrical items at discount prices.

Gareth Whiley, partner of Silverfleet, said: "TJ Hughes has in place an excellent management team and it has been a pleasure working with them. We wish them, and Endless, every success in this next phase."

The sale comes after rough times for TJ Hughes which has been hit by the withdrawal of credit insurance for its suppliers after a battle to secure working capital. Reportedly, UK credit insurers, Euler Hermes is said to have stopped providing cover to suppliers of the chain.

The company which is thought to have suffered from difficult and slow trading in the last few months is in the midst of completing a refinancing with Burdale, an arm of the Bank of Ireland.
TJ Hughes were unable to comment on the move.
Silverfleet, a mid-market investor – which is owned by partners from M&G, Prudential’s fund management arm – is believed to have paid about £150m for the Office shoe chain, which they bought last December from Sir Tom Hunter.

Bar Prudential UK Life Fund, Silverfleet has about 20 other institutional investors.