Amazon.com mulls buying warehouse club chain BJ's Wholesale Club for $4 bn
24 Apr 2017
US e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc is mulling buying warehouse club chain BJ's Wholesale Club, for $4 billion, the New York Post reported.
Private equity firms Leonard Green & Partners and CVC Capital Partners had acquired BJ's in 2011 for $2.8 billion, and in 2014, BJ's was fully bought by Leonard Green & Partners.
BJ's recently shelved plans for an initial public offering due to overall decline of sales in the US retail sector, and instead decided to sell itself, the report said.
BJ's has been interviewing bankers so it can begin a sale process, and the company plans to distribute sales books in a few weeks, the report added.
BJ's is a membership-only warehouse club chain operating on the East Coast of the US, as well as in the state of Ohio.
It operates 213 warehouse clubs and 130 gas stations across 15 states, and employs around 25,000 people.
Its major competitors are Costco Wholesale and Walmart's warehouse club, Sam's Club.