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Mamut "tables Waterstone's bid" as deadline looms
13.05.11 | Lisa Campbell
Alexander Mamut has reportedly made a £43m offer for Waterstone's, as a 5pm deadline looms for bidders.
The Financial Times reports Mamut tabled the cash offer to HMV Group and its advisors Nomura. The bid is higher than the £35m he was speculated to be offering for the chain. None of the three parties would comment.
The Bookseller understands other parties include restructuring specialist GA Europe, who jointly handled the administration of BB&S in January. However, m.d. Gavin George told The Bookseller: "I cannot confirm or deny that."
Investment firm Change Capital Partners has been named in the press as another company interested in Waterstone’s, however the source told The Bookseller that the company is not involved. Other parties rumoured to be mulling a bid before today’s 5pm deadline are investment firm Sun Capital and restructuring company Hilco, which funded the ill-fated Borders buyout of 2009 through its Valco investment firm.
Mamut reportedly had exclusivity on talks to buy Waterstone’s for the asking price, rumoured to be around £70m, but lost it when he began “chipping away” at the sum, The Bookseller has been told.
HMV Group, Sun Capital and Hilco were unavailable for comment.
TheBookseller
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Is the use of an image from the defunct 311 Oxford St store ironic?
Being bought by a faceless investment group really is the sum of all fears. C'mon Tim and Mamut, put your hands in your pockets!
Hilco/Valco? You better pray it's not them...
200 stores could end up closing, and yet all head office are bothered about is mystery shop scores. Strange way to run a company.
And when the 'deadline' (ha ha ha) expires, nothing will be any clearer than now, and Waterstones will still be part of a rapidly declining group. And that's exactly what the bidders want; why pay a lot now to close a load of branches and pay loads of redundancy when the receivers will do that? Just pick up what you want after the collapse. Looks like administration looms.
This is indeed the first anyone has heard of this news. As an ex Borders and now Waterstone's employee hearing the name Hilco has started me worrying.
They made a lot of money off the demise of Borders and I wonder if they can see us lying wounded and want to pick off the carcass?
I'll go dust off my CV....
You suspect correctly, we've heard nothing for a couple of weeks now, and even then it was the same old 'don't worry, we'll let you know something when there's something to let you know about'.
And when the 'deadline' (ha ha ha) expires, nothing will be any clearer than now, and Waterstones will still be part of a rapidly declining group. And that's exactly what the bidders want; why pay a lot now to close a load of branches and pay loads of redundancy when the receivers will do that? Just pick up what you want after the collapse. Looks like administration looms.
Sad and worrying news. Isn't "restructuring" just a euphemism for "asset-stripping"?
The reason why you have heard nothing is because there is no news, this article is simply rumour and speculation.
The market capitalisation for HMV Group is 45M at today's prices and they want HOW MUCH for a division??? You do the maths....
Re:L Wilson; Being ex Waterstones and BBS, i fear when i see the name GA Europe, because my experience is that you're pretty much on the nail - but i hope both i'm wrong and this report's wrong for all your sakes...
I am having a nice cup of tea and a chocolate bikkie at tht tills because the manager has gone home. I like books. I do find selling them a chore though, what with all these customers expecting to be spoken to and whatnot. What do these louts know about books anyway? I mean, I have an arts degree.
GA Europe will get Waterstones for £55m, owing to Mamut's feet dragging and cheap skating. They'll go through Waterstones like a dose of salts and leave you all with sore bottoms. But they'll make more money out of it than Timmy and Mamut.
Publishers jumped into bed with Tesco and Amazon and they'll get what they deserve.
Re By george 180: I suspect the key phrase there is "..they'll make more money out of it...".
exactly the same. froze my blood to see the name hilco. could not possibly go through that again.
was exactly the same with borders. everyone kept putting a positive spin on it and we truly believed that because our store was profitable we would be OK. time to worry now I am afraid.
does the bookshop have a place on tomorrow's high street? possibly, but it won't be selling books! to attract the young hipsters with their wacky underpants and overflowing wallets you will have to offer them something more vibrant, more exciting, than a musty smelling room full of dusty old tomes that never shift off the shelves from one week to the next. the old habits from the past must be ditched if you want the business to survive in today's ever-changing market. if selling the punters an apple turnover as an add-on will get them into your shop, then that is the way forward. this time next year you will see that I am right.
Whoever buys Waterstones, let us hope that it is someone who genuinely cares about books. The last time I visited Waterstones I had a list of half-a-dozen books that I wanted to purchase. None was in stock. Disappointingly, I ended up having to buy them all online from Amazon.co.uk
Is the use of an image from the defunct 311 Oxford St store ironic?
Being bought by a faceless investment group really is the sum of all fears. C'mon Tim and Mamut, put your hands in your pockets!
Hilco/Valco? You better pray it's not them...
200 stores could end up closing, and yet all head office are bothered about is mystery shop scores. Strange way to run a company.
You suspect correctly, we've heard nothing for a couple of weeks now, and even then it was the same old 'don't worry, we'll let you know something when there's something to let you know about'.
And when the 'deadline' (ha ha ha) expires, nothing will be any clearer than now, and Waterstones will still be part of a rapidly declining group. And that's exactly what the bidders want; why pay a lot now to close a load of branches and pay loads of redundancy when the receivers will do that? Just pick up what you want after the collapse. Looks like administration looms.
This is indeed the first anyone has heard of this news. As an ex Borders and now Waterstone's employee hearing the name Hilco has started me worrying.
They made a lot of money off the demise of Borders and I wonder if they can see us lying wounded and want to pick off the carcass?
I'll go dust off my CV....
exactly the same. froze my blood to see the name hilco. could not possibly go through that again.
And when the 'deadline' (ha ha ha) expires, nothing will be any clearer than now, and Waterstones will still be part of a rapidly declining group. And that's exactly what the bidders want; why pay a lot now to close a load of branches and pay loads of redundancy when the receivers will do that? Just pick up what you want after the collapse. Looks like administration looms.
Sad and worrying news. Isn't "restructuring" just a euphemism for "asset-stripping"?
The reason why you have heard nothing is because there is no news, this article is simply rumour and speculation.
was exactly the same with borders. everyone kept putting a positive spin on it and we truly believed that because our store was profitable we would be OK. time to worry now I am afraid.
The market capitalisation for HMV Group is 45M at today's prices and they want HOW MUCH for a division??? You do the maths....
Re:L Wilson; Being ex Waterstones and BBS, i fear when i see the name GA Europe, because my experience is that you're pretty much on the nail - but i hope both i'm wrong and this report's wrong for all your sakes...
I am having a nice cup of tea and a chocolate bikkie at tht tills because the manager has gone home. I like books. I do find selling them a chore though, what with all these customers expecting to be spoken to and whatnot. What do these louts know about books anyway? I mean, I have an arts degree.
GA Europe will get Waterstones for £55m, owing to Mamut's feet dragging and cheap skating. They'll go through Waterstones like a dose of salts and leave you all with sore bottoms. But they'll make more money out of it than Timmy and Mamut.
Publishers jumped into bed with Tesco and Amazon and they'll get what they deserve.
Re By george 180: I suspect the key phrase there is "..they'll make more money out of it...".
does the bookshop have a place on tomorrow's high street? possibly, but it won't be selling books! to attract the young hipsters with their wacky underpants and overflowing wallets you will have to offer them something more vibrant, more exciting, than a musty smelling room full of dusty old tomes that never shift off the shelves from one week to the next. the old habits from the past must be ditched if you want the business to survive in today's ever-changing market. if selling the punters an apple turnover as an add-on will get them into your shop, then that is the way forward. this time next year you will see that I am right.
Whoever buys Waterstones, let us hope that it is someone who genuinely cares about books. The last time I visited Waterstones I had a list of half-a-dozen books that I wanted to purchase. None was in stock. Disappointingly, I ended up having to buy them all online from Amazon.co.uk