Allsports and ELC put up for sale
Two of UK venture capital company 3i’s biggest retail investments – Allsports and the Early Learning Centre – are up for sale, a report said today.
The Sunday Telegraph said the Early Learning Centre (ELC) could fetch as much as £80m (€116m) – a sharp improvement on the £29.6m (€42.9m) paid to previous owner John Menzies as part of a management buy-out in September 2001.
The venture capital group is also reported to have appointed advisers to sell Allsports, one of the UK’s biggest sportswear retailers with 277 shops.
3i first invested in the business in the 1980s before pumping in further cash in 1997. It is now thought to be worth around £50m (€72m).
Today’s report said 3i was looking to scale back its investments in the retail sector. No one from the company was available for comment today.
