CVC Capital Partners CPPIP to acquire Petco for $4.7 billion

Petco is being acquired by CVC Capital Partners and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board for $4.7 billion, The New York Times reported citing a person briefed on the matter.

A formal announcement of the deal, would happen today, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as the discussions were still private.

Petco, which sells food and supplies for pets in over 1,400 stores in US, had been bought and sold by TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners twice.

The private equity firms acquired the retailer for the first time for $600 million in 2000, and took it public two years later. They then bought it back in 2006 for $1.68 billion.

San Diego-based Petco Holdings, filed to go public in August, but was pursuing a sale simultaneously.

The company's revenue had risen 12 per cent in the 26 weeks through 1 August from the same period a year ago, according to the filing.

Net income jumped about 43 per cent and had over $2 billion in debt, according to the filing.

Another pet supplies retailer, PetSmart was also taken private a year ago. PetSmart was acquired by a consortium led by BC Partners, for $8.7 billion in the biggest leveraged buyout of a US company in 2014.

The Wall Street Journal had reported the Petco acquisition bid earlier.