Sparkling plan: Private equity owner of jewellery company Aurum considering stock market float as well as sale
The London Stock Exchange could be be set for another jewel in its crown.
The private equity owner of high-class jeweller Aurum Holdings, which is behind high street chain Goldsmiths, is considering options for floating the company.
Apollo Global Management, which acquired the firm for a reported £180m in 2012, has appointed Jefferies bankers to explore a sale. And City PM has learned Aurum could also be in line for an initial public offering (IPO).
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Aurum has more than 2,000 staff across the UK and around 140 stores.
In the year to April 2015, the company reported revenues of £415m, up around 20 per cent on the previous year.
Aurum is also understood to have benefited from the Brexit vote and the falling value of the pound, with more tourists flocking to the UK and shopping in its stores.
Aurum chief executive Brian Duffy confirmed Apollo is taking a twin-track approach to offloading the company, considering both private and public exits.
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“[We have] an open mind to what would be the best way for this business to move,” Duffy told City PM “We’ve been owned by Apollo now for over four years, they’ve been great as a supportive shareholder. We’ve been a good investment for them, given them good returns on investment they’ve made and it’s all worked very well.
“Inevitably, a private equity group, after four years of good performance, they would look to assess what the value was, what the market appetite would be. And they are taking advice on what interest there would be from public investor groups versus privates.”