A consortium led by investment bank Goldman Sachs is poised to make an offer for Kesa Electrical’s French furniture chain BUT.

The potential bid would involve a tie-up between Goldman and private equity firm Merchant Equity Partners, as revealed by Retail Week (October 26). Merchant Equity Partners bought UK chain MFI’s retail division last year and a bid for BUT would be a complementary deal.

French newspaper Les Echos has suggested that the bid price could be about£400 million. However, Kaupthing retail analyst Matthew McEachran said: “The price cited is£400 million, but we wouldn’t read too much into this as the deal will almost certainly include some freehold assets.”

Kesa Electricals declined to comment.

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