A report said there were only two buyers left in the campaign to buy the sick high street partition of retailer WH Smith.
The retail group confirmed in January that it is seeking buyers for its 500 UK high street stores, a major change that is free to focus on the more successful travel sector, where stores are available in train stations, airports and hospitals both in the UK and abroad.
According to Sky News, the restructuring of Alteri and Hobbycraft owner Modella Capital have experience buying troubled retailers, which are the only two political parties involved in the deal.
HMV owner Doug Putman is reportedly seen as a potential bidder for the chain and is reportedly no longer talking to Greenhill bankers about the offer.
The Guardian learned that bidders have submitted a first-round chain offer to WH Smith over the past few weeks and the sales process is underway, hoping to close the deal in April.
Alteri owns retailer Bensons for Beds, which previously owned a majority stake in Fast fashion retailer Missguided, which collapsed in 2022, while Modella Capital acquired Arts and Crafts retailer HobbyCraft.
Retail analysts expect both potential bidders will close a large number of WH Smith’s high street stores after control, creating uncertainty among the 5,000 employees in those stores.
Any deal will give WH Smith’s eponymous parent company (listed on the stock market) freely a focus on its growing travel department, which operates in 32 countries, accounting for three-quarters of the group’s revenue at the end of August.
The retailer’s high street division sells newspapers, books, stationery, cards and gifts, reports that sales at its UK stores fell in the 21 weeks to January 25, while revenues rose in its travel sector.
WH Smith is one of the oldest retailers in the world, dating back to 1792, when it was founded by Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna on Little Grosvenor Street in London, and later expanded to one of the most famous retail chains in the UK.
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WH Smith declined to comment.
Alteri, Modela Capital and Putman Investments have been contacted for comment.
