Art and crafts retailer HobbyCraft has said it would aspire to surpass Pets at Home as a success story for its new owner, Bridgepoint, following its sale last week to the private equity investor for nearly £120m.

Chief executive Chris Crombie said that Bridgepoint’s track record with Pets at Home, made it the “perfect partner” for HobbyCraft.

Bridgepoint sold Pets at Home for £955m in January.

Crombie said: “We aim to become a greater success for Bridgepoint than Pets at Home, in terms of private equity deals. Pets at Home has been one of the most successful retail deals and I’m determined to make us the next one.”

HobbyCraft has thrived in the recession, benefiting from customers’ make-do-and-mend sensibilities during the global economic downturn.

HobbyCraft aims to increase the number of its stores from the current 47 to 180. It will also look at improving its logistics, ecommerce and instore environment.

Sources close to last week’s deal said that private equity firm Exponent and Halfords also tabled bids for HobbyCraft, but these were rejected because they offered less favourable terms.

Halfords declined to comment.

Topics