05 December 2000

Focus To Buy Out Great Mills

Duke Street Capital the venture capital firm behind Focus Do It All which operates 77 Petworld stores looks set to acquire the Great Mills DIY chain. According to the Financial Times today, the deal, reported as worth around £285m, between Duke Street and the multi-national RMC Group plc, could be finalised in the next few days. Duke Street Capital first invested in Focus in 1987. In 1998, Duke Street acquired Do It All from the Boots Company plc for £68 million. Earlier this year it bought out DIY rivals Wickes. RMC, which bought the Great Mills Warehouse chain of stores in 1979, confirmed back in July that as part of its disposal programme of non-core businesses and assets, the sale of Great Mills was under active consideration. Copyright 2000 Steve O'Malley (UKPets). This article may be reproduced with permission of the author and correct attribution to the source.