Home Retail Group has divested its DIY arm Homebase, now owned by Australian group Wesfarmers following 99.3% of shareholders voting in favour of the move.
The deal, first submitted in December, valued the business at £340m. It was approved at an AGM last week and the deal was completed at the weekend.
Homebase will disappear from the UK market, to be replaced by Wesfarmer’s owned Australian brand Bunnings.
“We welcome our new employees and are excited about the opportunity to bring the best of Bunnings to the UK and Ireland,” Managing Director Richard Goyder said on Monday.
Meanwhile, the fate of Argos is still undecided.
According to The Mail on Sunday, Sainsbury‘s is considering making a higher offer for Argos following South African conglomerate Steinhoff’s last minute cash offer of £1.4bn. To put that into context, Steinhoff’s bid is well above Sainsbury’s £1.3bn offer.
Both companies have until 18 March to make their next move, locked in due diligence after the deadline was extended by three weeks in line with Steinhoff’s schedule. Although Sainsbury’s had previously said it would not overpay, it would be more than embarrassing at this point if it were to lose out on Argos after it has come so far with strategy.
