International building materials firm, Wolseley, has put three of its UK companies up for sale, including its trade builders’ merchant division, Build Center.
The company is said to be battling a downturn in UK figures, and is hoping that the sale of Build Center - along with the two smaller companies, Electric Center and Encon - will go some way to raising around £300 million. It is understood that Wolseley is seeking to further its bias to the North American construction and house building markets.
Interest so far for Build Center has come from a mix of trade and private equity buyers. Build Center operates more than 200 stores throughout the UK, employing around 1,000 staff. Electric Center operates from 90 outlets, and together with Encon - which was bought by Wolseley in 2005 for £140 million - has a combined headcount of between 200 and 300 staff.
Sources close to the sale said that it could be carried out in a number of smaller deals, and that prospective buyers should be prepared to undertake significant restructuring of stores and outlets.
"[Wolseley] could have hung on to the business, cut down the number of shops and kept the core outlets," a source said. "Anyone who buys it is going to have to start by cutting a lot of it off."
