Hedge fund struggles to trim garden centres

MORE than 20 garden centres across the South West continue to face an uncertain future with no buyers found almost six months after they were put on the market.

Terra Firma, owner of Wyevale Garden Centres (WGC), placed all its 145 stores across the country on the market, stating that they were expecting to attract a range of investors.

However, in the South West, only seven of the 30 stores in the region have so far been sold or leased.

They include Cadbury Garden Centre in Smallway, Congresbury, Sanders Garden Centre in Brent Knoll, near Burnham-on-Sea and Endsleigh, near Ivybridge in Devon, to garden centre operators Blue Diamond.

Centres in Keynsham, Bude, Sidmouth and Barnstaple are also now off the market.

But 23 remain unsold or unleased. They include Wyevale Garden Centres in Taunton, priced at £5.75m, and in Cheddar, priced at £2.7m.

Terra Firma has appointed Christie & Co to advise on the sale of the sites.

A spokesman for WGC said: “We have been delighted by the level of interest we have received in Wyevale Garden Centres. We have received a significant number of offers for all and parts of the business from national, regional and financial operators as well as local entrepreneurs.

“We will now be considering the offers over the coming weeks.”

In a sales portfolio produced by Christie & Co, it said there was a number of ‘alternative use development opportunities’ for many of the properties.

It said that the firm had invested significantly in the business and the majority of sites have high specification restaurants and cafes, many with children’s soft play areas.

Wyevale is the largest operator of garden centres in the UK. The firm began as a mail-order nursery in 1932 before becoming one of the UK’s earliest niche garden centres in 1966.

It was bought by private equity company Terra Firma in 2012 and employs about 6,000 people.

Wyevale put its 145 garden centres up for sale in May, for a total of £450m.