By IRENE CHAPPLE
Pacific Retail Group is expected to announce the timetable for floating its retail brands Noel Leeming and Bond & Bond by the end of next week.
The company, controlled by entrepreneur Eric Watson, is understood to have lodged its draft prospectus with the NZX this week, and is waiting
for its approval.
Pre-marketing of the offer will feature colour advertising spreads in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch papers this weekend.
The brands are widely expected to be sold in a trade sale - Australian private equity fund Gresham Private Equity is seen as a prime contender - but the company has said it was committed to the process of an initial public offering.
The brands are expected to be priced at up to $150 million.
Institutional investors say they have been informally sounded out but have yet to receive detailed information on the offer.
Pacific Retail Group is selling the brands after buying British electrical chain Powerhouse last year from receivers. Powerhouse has sucked up $46 million over the seven months to March 31 and pulled its parent into a full-year net loss of $22 million.
