British Car Auctions prepares to float

British Car Auctions, which sells more than 600,000 cars a year, has appointed a team of investment bankers to prepare it for a listing after the summer.

It is thought the Enfield-based company, which is owned by Clayton Dubilier & Rice, could be worth as much as £1.2bn. The private equity house is close to instructing a total of six banks, led by UBS, HSBC and Numis Securities, to oversee the plans.

The newly-listed firms include retailers Poundland and Card Factory, and the property website Zoopla. More are expected after the summer, despite concerns about a loss of investor appetite for new share issues, which recently prompted Fat Face and Blue Inc, the retailers, and Whizz Air, the airline, to shelve float plans.

Market confidence was dented by a series of disappointing debuts including AO World, the electrical goods retailer, and Saga, the over-50s holiday group. However, since then the successful listings of B&M Bargains, the discount retailer, and TSB have helped to restore sentiment.

BCA was bought by Clayton Dubilier and Rice in 2010 for around £400m. Its value is believed to have shot up after a surge in second-hand car sales and the value of used vehicles. Last year, BCA sold 600,000 cars, the highest number since it was founded. At the company’s first auction in 1946, when it traded as Southern Counties Car Auctions, it sold 14 cars and generated proceeds of £2,300. It now sells more than 12,000 vehicles every week at physical auctions and over the internet.

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