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Pet supply retailer Petco is being sold to private equity firm CVC Capital Partners and Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board for about $4.6B. This is one of the biggest leveraged buyouts of the year—and just in time for the holidays.
The acquisition follows a dual-track process where TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners—who bought the company in 2006 for $1.7B—pursued the two options of an auction and an IPO.
The pet retail space is competitive, as general retailers like Target now offer pet supplies. Just last year, PetSmart was purchased by a London-based equity firm and turned private for $8.2B.
Barclays, Citigroup and Moelis & Co advised CVC and CPPIB while Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase repped Petco. The deal is slated to close in early 2016. [WSJ]
