TM Lewin attaches price tag of £100m

Coller Capital is looking to set up an auction for the prestigious shirtmaker TM Lewin, one year after going through a vigorous refinancing.

Corporate financiers from KPMG have been asked to search for a buyer, with the chief executive Geoff Quinn deemed likely to remain at the head.

An auction for the 115-year-old business could see it change hands for more than £100 million. The move is designed to generate new funds for its plans for international expansion. It had received a new lease of life after entering Asia in recent years, where there is plenty of demand for British-made items.

The retailer was founded in 1898 on Jermyn Street in Mayfair, London, by Thomas Mayes Lewin, who is said to have introduced the ‘coat shirt’ - shirts with buttons all the way down the front. Today, TM Lewin shirts are very popular in the financial services district in London.

Bidders for TM Lewin, which now has 90 stores in the UK, are expected to include private equity firms and other retailers.

For the 53 weeks to 3 March 2012, TM Lewin recorded a turnover of £106.5 million, with profits of £12.1 million, a fall of 18 per cent on the year before.

Geoff Quinn, who aims to stay with the business to drive its growth under a new owner, has worked at TM Lewin since it was just a single store. He can expect a large payout from the sale.

As part of the refinancing in April 2012, its debt repayment deadline for most of its £33.5 million bank loans was extended to between two and five years.

____________________________________________________________________________
Related:
Retail businesses for sale
Administrators seek buyer for Nicole Farhi
Multiple retail failures after rent day

Share this article

Latest Businesses for Sale

View more businesses for sale