After months of speculation, The Home Depot has agreed to sell its wholesale division, HD Supply, and bring its focus back to the performance of its retail core. Three private equity firms will buy the $12 billion unit.
The Home Depot, Atlanta, GA, has agreed to sell HD Supply to a team of private equity firms – Bain Capital LLC, Carlyle Group and Clayton Dubilier & Rice Inc. – for $10.3 billion, or roughly 10X-12X EBITDA. The firms are splitting the investment equally.
The sale has been expected for weeks now, with a number of private equity firms rumored to have bid for the unit and several to have bowed out due to the down housing market – one of HD Supply's core customer bases. HD Supply reported a decrease in organic sales in the recent …
