Pret owner in Miller Homes takeover talks

MILLER HOMES is in “advanced” talks to be taken over by the owner of Pret A Manger.

Private equity firm Bridgepoint is said to be close to doing the deal for the housebuilder, which last year made £89.3m in pre-tax profits. Miller is controlled by GSO, a division of Blackstone, while Lloyds and Coller Capital both also have stakes in the company which builds homes outside London.

It came under the control of its lenders during the financial crisis, and was taken on by Blackstone in 2012.

Miller built 2,380 homes last year, helping to boost its pre-tax profits by 44pc. It has an ambitious growth plan to build 4,000 homes per year by 2020. The average selling price of one of its homes was £231,000, meaning they can be purchased using government schemes such as Help to Buy.

Sky News said the deal could be worth under £800m. Bridgepoint also made an offer to take over retirement housebuilder Mccarthy and Stone in 2015, but was rebuffed. Miller Homes and Bridgepoint had no comment.