According to a post by The Times UK, Blackstone is poised to sell off the Ideal World home shopping channel for less than half the price it paid for the business.
The world’s largest private equity firm has appointed advisers from Deloitte to find a buyer quickly for the channel’s parent company Ideal Shopping Direct, which operates channels selling products on Sky, Freeview and Virgin Media.
The business has previously exploited the rapid growth of the “crafting” market, which focuses on pursuits such as embroidery, cake decorating, knitting and card making. Yet its trading is said to have been suffering more recently.
Companies House records show that Mike Hancox 52 left the chief executive of Ideal Shopping Direct since 2008, left the business on the 30th of May 2018.
City sources claim the business could be sold for less than £100m, with the likely buyers thought to include turnaround funds and restructuring specialists. Blackstone bought the company for £200m in 2015 from private equity firm Inflexion.
Ideal Shopping Direct was previously listed on the AIM market. Inflexion backed a £78.3m management buyout, led by Hancox, in 2011. The move to take it private followed a series of profit warnings.”
