Bridgepoint halves stake in UK self-storage company Safestore

The mid-market firm said that it intends to sell up to 32 million shares, representing around half of its total holding in the company. The share total represents 17 per cent of the company, with Bridgepoint retaining at least 17.9 per cent of listed ordinary share capital. The shares will not go on sale for 90 days.

Bridgepoint backed the management buy-out of the company in August 2003 for £40m (€44.7m), offering 44 pence per share (49 euro cents), a 16 per cent premium above the company’s share price.

Safestore was founded in 1998, listing on the AIM exchange the same year. Since then, the company has become the largest self-storage company, with 90 stores and three business centres in the UK, and 22 stores in Paris under the name Une Pièce en Plus. The company had 23 stores in its network at the time of Bridgepoint’s investment.

With offices across Europe, Bridgepoing invests in businesses valued at between €200m and €1bn. The firm recently took British nursing and elderly home care company Care UK private, in a deal that valued the company at £281m (€309.9m)

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