Law firm Howard Kennedy is advising English Rose Enterprises, a company owned by Andrew Perloff and family, on its efforts to acquire Beales, the historic department store chain.
The acquisition is being made with the financial support of Portnard Limited, another Andrew Perloff family vehicle.
English Rose Enterprises has yesterday (19 January) announced its intention to make a cash offer of 6p per share, valuing the company at GBP1.23m. This is backed by the offer of financial support for Beales to the tune of up to GBP2m.
Beales, which can trace its history back to 1881 operates 30 department stores across the UK. Its directors are recommending its shareholders to accept the offer.
Howard Kennedy advised Portnard Limited on its acquisition of approximately 8,000,000 preference shares in Beales in April 2013.
Michael Harris, Partner and Head of M&A at Howard Kennedy, says: “Advising English Rose on its takeover offer for Beales and Portnard on its offer of financial support to Beales has enabled Howard Kennedy to contribute its commercial and technical expertise in the takeover and finance arenas to a strong professional advisory team of Sanlam Securities and KPMG.
“Our clients believe that the change of control combined with the promise to provide additional capital should assist in protecting the future security of the Beales business. We have been delighted to be able to play a role in making a proposal to secure the long term future for this long established department store.”
