Home Depot targets UK for expansion
Kingfisher takeover could be back on the agenda
US DIY giant Home Depot is actively considering expansion in the UK, renewing speculation that it will bid for UK market leader Kingfisher.
It has emerged that Home Depot, the world’s third biggest retailer behind Wal-Mart and Carrefour, was high on the shortlist in the auction for Wickes, the trade sales arm of Focus Wickes.
The Wickes business was sold to Travis Perkins, leaving the 250 store Focus chain as the UK’s fourth largest DIY retailer, specialising in light home improvement and maintenance projects. It seems likely that Home Depot also ran its slide rule over that arm of the group.
A takeover of B&Q owner Kingfisher by Home Depot has long been seen as a logical fit, and the two are known to have held discussions in the past.
In January this year Home Depot chairman Robert Nardelli said the company was “aware” of Kingfisher, but said the weakness of the dollar, which has continued throughout 2004, was the main argument against an approach. He said: “I couldn’t think of a dumber time to make an international acquisition with the euro at an all-time high. Just based on exchange, you’re going to be paying a premium.”
Home Depot has focused its expansion this year closer to home, building its chains in the US’s closest neighbours Canada and Mexico. However, in June it confirmed that it would follow B&Q into the Chinese market, appointing company veteran Bill Patterson to the newly created position of Home Depot president of Asia to lay plans for an entry into China.
