Pret owner eyeing sale or flotation

Pret A Manger’s owner Bridgepoint is considering selling the chain or floating it on the New York Stock Exchange.

That is according to an interview in the Financial Times with Bridgepoint’s managing director William Jackson.

“All options are open,” Jackson told the Financial Times, which reports he did not rule out a sale rather than an initial public offering (IPO). The group would be expected to see a seven-fold return on its initial investment should it be sold.

Jackson added, “We’ve thought that the best route for Pret in the long term is to be a quoted company. We’d love to be able to do that in the United Kingdom and that’s been on our mind,” however flotation in the US would support the company’s US expansion ambitions."