Private equity firms Leonard Green & Partners L.P. and CVC Capital Partners Ltd. have made a joint bid to acquire warehouse club chain BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc. (BJ), Leonard Green said in a regulatory filing on Friday. Financial terms of the offer were not disclosed.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Leonard Green said that a newly formed entity jointly controlled by it and CVC Capital would acquire all of the outstanding common shares of BJ's through a merger. Leonard Green also disclosed that it has a 9.3 percent stake in BJ's, owning 5.10 million shares.
The New York Post had reported last week that Leonard Green and CVC Capital are set to make a joint buyout offer for BJ's that would likely value the company at a minimum of $2.8 billion.
Massachusetts-based BJ's said in early February that its board of directors has decided to explore strategic alternatives, including a possible sale of the company, and named Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. (MS) to assist in the process. The retailer has a market capitalization of $2.68 billion.
Leonard Green has about $9 billion in equity capital under management. The private equity firm, founded in 1989, has invested in 57 companies with aggregate value of $49.1 billion. Leonard Green is still looking to invest $5.3 billion in cash that it raised for a buyout fund in 2007.
The private equity firm has also been involved in other acquisition deals in the retail sector recently. Specialty fabrics and crafts retailer Jo-Ann Stores, Inc. (JAS) said in December that it has agreed to be acquired by Leonard Green for about $1.6 billion in cash. In another deal in late November, Leonard Green and another private equity firm TPG Capital agreed to acquire apparel retailer J. Crew Group, Inc. (JCG) for about $3.0 billion.
Meanwhile, London-based CVC Capital Partners manages over $42 billion in funds. The company was established in 1981 as Citicorp Venture Capital, a subsidiary of Citigroup Inc. (C). In Europe and North America, CVC has completed over 250 company acquisitions with an aggregate transaction value of $145 billion.
BJ's and other operators of whole sale clubs and off-price retail shops have been reporting higher comparable stores sales for the past few months. In early June, BJ's reported a 7.4 percent increase in comparable club sales for the month of May 2011, which includes a contribution of 4.4 percent from gasoline sales.
In mid-May, BJ's reported a 29 percent increase in profit for the first quarter to $33.67 million or $0.62 per share. The increase was mainly driven by a 6.3 percent increase in comparable club sales, including a contribution from gasoline sales of 3.9 percent.
BJ's currently operates 190 warehouse clubs in 15 states, mainly located on the East Coast.
In Friday's regular trading, BJ is trading at $48.93, up $1.07 or 2.24 percent on 0.68 million shares. In the past 52 weeks, the stock has been trading in a range of $36.77-$52.46.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
May 15, 2026 15:25 ET Apart from the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, the main news on the economics front this week included key price data from the U.S. and the first quarter economic growth figures from major economies. Both consumer prices and producer costs have started to reflect the effect of supply shocks due to the Middle East conflict. In Europe, GDP data was in focus, while inflation data from China dominated the news flow in Asia.