Sanders Garden World near Burnham-On-Sea has this week been bought in a multi-million pound deal by a national firm which plans to expand it into a ‘destination centre’.
Contracts have this week been exchanged for Blue Diamond to acquire eight garden centres from Wyevale as Terra Firma starts the break-up of the country’s biggest garden centre group.
Terra Firma recently announced here that Wyevale Garden Centres was to be sold either as a group or individually. This week’s deal indicates that the group will be broken up.
Blue Diamond is to buy Wyevale’s garden centres at Sanders Garden World in Brent Knoll near Burnham-On-Sea, plus Endsleigh in Devon, Percy Throwers in Shrewsbury, Melbicks in the West Midlands, Cadbury near Bristol, Bicester and Weybridge in Surrey.
The asking price for the eight garden centres was £36.1m and there are reports that the final deal is close to this. Three of the sites: Sanders in Brent Knoll, Percy Throwers and Melbics are freehold, while the other five are leased.
Last year Blue Diamond reported sales of £97m from 20 garden centres. It has since acquired Orchard Park in North Dorset.
Blue Diamond estimates that turnover of the enlarged group could get near £200m within three years once further investment has been made into the sites.
Alan Roper, Blue Diamond’s MD, reportedly plans to invest £16million to remodel and transform the centres into ‘destination centres’ like Redfields Garden & Living Centre in Hampshire and the Blue Diamond Garden and Home store near Nottingham.
Contracts were exchanged on Wednesday 25th July and the deal will complete on 16th August.
Blue Diamond is reported to have been negotiating with Wyevale some months before the group sale was announced in May. It was therefore in a position to complete a deal rapidly.
We first reported here in May that Sanders Garden World near Burnham-On-Sea was on sale for a bumper £12.25m.
Wyevale, the country’s largest garden centre operator, had been put up for sale by investment group Terra Firma, along with its garden centres.
Sanders Garden World in Brent Knoll is on sale at £12.25m , says Christie & Co, the specialist business property advisor, which has been appointed to explore a range of sales options for the business, from a sale of the whole business to individual garden centres.
Sanders Garden World was built in 2001 and has been twice voted Garden Centre of the Year. In addition to a restaurant, it has a Costa Coffee cafe plus branded stores for Cotton Traders, Mountain Warehouse, Granite Transformations, Maidenhead Aquatics, Pet Zone and Edinburgh Woollen Mill.
