Private equity firms circling around Daisy - reports

Reuters reports that confidential information will be sent to potential suitors next month

Multiple private equity firms are preparing bids for ICT reseller and services giant Daisy as the current owners look to sell, according to reports.

News agency Reuters said firms including CVC and Providence Equity Partners are likely to express their interest when confidential information is sent to suitors next month.

Rumours of a potential sale were mooted last year, before a fresh report in the Financial Times last month claimed that Daisy had appointed UBS and Oakley Advisory to lead the sale.

A deal with a private equity house is more likely than a sale to another comms firm, with the price likely to be lower than the £1.5bn reported last year, Reuters said.

One source told Reuters that a figure between £1.1bn and £1.2bn is more realistic, but a spokesperson for Daisy founder Matthew Riley said an offer in this price range would not be accepted.

CRN has contacted Daisy for further comment.

Riley founded Daisy in 2001 before floating the business on the London Stock Exchange in 2009. He took the business private again along with a group of investors in January 2015. Daisy has since made a number of acquisitions.