Peter Jones, the entrepreneur and Dragons’ Den choose, is near teeing off with the addition of American Golf, the retail chain, to his array of enterprise pursuits.
Sky Information has learnt that Mr Jones is in superior talks to purchase American Golf from Infinite, its long-standing non-public fairness backer.
Mr Jones, a eager golfer who is known to play off a handicap of eight, has invested in a string of British corporations, together with the digicam retailer Jessops, which he purchased in 2013.
His present portfolio contains Localised, an e-commerce platform for shopper manufacturers, and Levi Roots, founding father of the Reggae Reggae Sauce model.
Trade sources stated that Mr Jones, who has additionally featured often within the Alfred Dunhill Championship, the distinguished pro-am event, was eager to develop American Golf’s on-line presence and gross sales.
The chain, which trades from about 80 shops, has been owned by Infinite since a rescue deal in 2018.
Final summer season, Sky Information revealed that Infinite had appointed company financiers from Alvarez & Marsal to deal with a sale of the enterprise.
One insider stated a deal might be introduced as quickly as this week.
American Golf, which has a workforce of a number of hundred individuals, sells merchandise manufactured by main golf manufacturers reminiscent of Garmin and TaylorMade.
The worth of the deal being negotiated between Mr Jones and Infinite was unclear on Monday night.
Mr Jones, whose eponymous charitable basis has raised tens of thousands and thousands of kilos to offer younger individuals with expertise of enterprise, is known to have expressed an curiosity in buying American Golf a number of months in the past.
He’s the one one of many unique Dragons’ Den judges to have remained in place since its inaugural collection was broadcast by the BBC in 2005.
American Golf was beforehand owned by Solar European Companions, one other funding agency, which had acquired it from LDC, the non-public fairness division of Lloyds Banking Group.
Mr Jones, Infinite and A&M all declined to remark.
