Miller Homes sold in £655m deal with private equity firm

● News confirms recent speculation that a sale to Bridgepoint was being finalised

Housebuilder Miller Homes yesterday confirmed it is being snapped up by private equity group Bridgepoint in a deal worth £655 million.

The announcement ended months of speculation over the future of the Edinburghbased company which is one of the largest housebuilders in the UK.

Bridgepoint – which also owns sandwich chain Pret A Manger – confirmed its takeover of Miller from GSO Capital Partners, which is part of private equity giant Blackstone.

Miller chief executive Chris Endsor said the deal came at a time when the company was seeing strong growth.

“2016 was an outstanding year for Miller Homes, delivering operating profit in excess of £100m for the first time and outperforming on all key financial metrics for the fifth consecutive year.

“We fully expect 2017 to continue that upward trend.”

Endsor said GSO had been a “great supporter” of the business over the years.

“I look forward to welcoming Bridgepoint as our new shareholder as we undertake our next phase of growth, in an ongoing favourable macro-economic climate for UK housebuilding.”

Jamie Wyatt, partner at Bridgepoint, said: “The UK regional markets in which Miller operates are in good health, with a positive sales environment and an attractive land- buying market.”

He added that the group was well placed “to address future growth in the UK newbuild housing market where demand currently outstrips supply”.

The UK’S new-build market is estimated to be worth £35 billion, with around one million new homes needed to meet demand.

Miller is one of the industry’s biggest players having completed 2,380 properties last year and notching up more than £100m in annual earnings for the first time in 2016.

It was set up in 1934 as part of the family-owned Miller Group and has expanded from its Scottish homeland to build across the UK. It now employs more than 700 people.

The sale deal comes after Bridgepoint has enjoyed a marked recovery since faltering in the financial crisis.

It was taken over by its lenders during the crisis, but has since bounced back strongly, helped by the UK government’s Help to Buy scheme and continuing low interest rates.

Bridgepoint’s Europe division concentrates on middle market companies across Europe typically valued between €200m (£90m) and €1bn. GSO Capital took a controlling stake in Miller in 2011 in a deal which enabled it to refinance its £600m net debts.

Miller saw its pre-tax profits jump 44 per cent last year on a 13 per cent hike in revenues.

At the time of its results, published in March, Endsor played down the impact of last year’s Brexit vote, saying the company “didn’t miss a beat” during the second half of 2016, with sales “substantially up” on a year earlier.