Made moves forward with buyout bids

Made put itself up for sale last month

(Picture: Made)

Embattled online furniture retailer Made has received a “number” of unnamed approaches to acquire the business that put itself for sale last month after running into liquidity problems.

Made said it had received a number of “non-binding indicative proposals” for the company and has now “invited a select number of parties” to progress towards firm offers by the end of October, following a due diligence process. 

“The proposals provide a range of different transaction structures, including possible offers for the issued and to be issued share capital of the company,” said Made.

“Current discussions may be altered or terminated at any time and, accordingly, there can be no certainty that an offer will be made, nor as to what the terms of any offer may be,” the retailer added.

Each bidder must primarily expect to inject initial cash of up to £70 million in order to salvage the business.

“Based on the working capital requirements  of the group, any firm offer would require interim financing to be put in place at the time that firm offers are expected, which the parties involved in the process are aware of,” Made said.

The company formally put itself on the auction block following a biting downturn in the home furnishing market took its toll on its trading, as consumers pulled back on big ticket items.such as sofas in the wake of the cost of living crisis. The proposed sale followed a plea for an eleventh hour bail out from financiers.

Cutbacks at the business have also been reported to include 200 layoffs. The handling of the sale is being pushed through by auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

The group was originally founded by former Lastminute boss Brent Hoberman and investor Ning Li. Hoberman and Li have since left the business.

The board of Made said it would continue to update shareholders further “as appropriate”.