Liberty owners mull £300m sale

THE owner of luxury department store Liberty is mulling a £300m sale of the business.

Private equity firm Blue Gem Capital Partners bought the 144-year-old business for around £40m in 2010.

Liberty was founded in 1875 and its store in London’s West End opened in 1924. Famous for its fabrics and luxury items such as fine jewellery and £2,000 bottles of perfume, it also owns hat-maker Christy’s which has supplied Sir Winston Churchill and The Queen. It could now be sold for as much as £350m.

According to latest accounts, it raked in £133.3m in sales during the year to February 3, 2018, £10m more than a year earlier.

Blue Gem declined to comment.