Private equity firm Bain Capital, the owner of Gail’s, is understood to be searching for new investors for the bakery chain as it continues to expand across the UK.
According to The Times, advisers at Goldman Sachs have been brought in to begin discussions around potential investment opportunities – however it is understood a formal sale process has not yet started.
Last year, Bain Capital reportedly hired Goldman Sachs to prepare an auction of the bakery chain, leading to speculation it could be worth as much as £500m. At the time, Bloomberg reported McWin Capital Partners, which is already a backer of the bakery’s parent company, was in talks to purchase the chain.
Gail’s opened its first bakery in Hampstead, London in 2005 and now has more than 170 UK stores.
In July, Gail’s CEO Tom Molnar told The Times it planned to open a further 35 stores in 2025 following a string of launches in 2023, when it opened almost two new sites a month.
For the year to 29 February 2024 (its latest available accounts), Grain Topco – the owner of Gail’s parent company Bread Holdings – said bakery revenue grew 32% with total sales hitting £179.1m.
It comes as Bain Capital is understood to have made a bid for Costa Coffee in October, according to the Financial Times.
Joining Asda owner TDR Capital, Bain Capital’s Special Situations unit is one of a small number of PE firms to have submitted a first-round bid to owner Coca-Cola for the coffee chain, reportedly marketed at a price of around £2bn.
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