Gresham says no to PRG's finance arm

Australian investor Gresham Private Equity checked out the sales process for Pacific Retail Group's finance arm - but decided to keep its chequebook in its pocket.

Gresham last year bought the PRG-owned retail chains Bond & Bond, Noel Leeming, Noel Leeming Furniture and Big Byte for $138.5 million.

Joint managing director Roy McKelvie yesterday confirmed a report that Gresham had looked at PRG's consumer finance group but was not participating in the sales process.

He said Gresham had no desire to buy PRG piece by piece and then stitch it back together. "We just don't think it makes commercial sense for us to integrate everything."

A source close to the sales process said trade and private equity bidders remained and due diligence work was ongoing.

PRG is majority-owned by Eric Watson, a New Zealand businessman resident in London.

The company's last public statement on the sales process said final bids were due in the second half of this month.

The Business Herald was told yesterday that the timetable for the sale had since slipped by "a couple of weeks".

Macquarie NZ is advising PRG.

PRG looked at floating the finance group on the stock exchange but that option was ditched after a report from Macquarie.

Gresham is known in New Zealand for investments such as a management buyout of car parts chain Repco in 2001 that saw it later exit with big profits in a transtasman share float.