Sunday, September 17, 2006

CompUSA for sale?

The Dallas Morning News says that Grupo Carso, the Mexican conglomerate controlled by billionaire Carlos Slim, is trying to find a buyer for CompUSA.

They dumped their CEO last week, or rather, he is leaving "to focus on his family and new professional endeavors." And they brought in a new CMO as well.

The 230-store consumer electronics chain posted its strongest operating results in a decade in 2005, but it wasn't able to keep up the momentum and needs additional capital to remodel and build new stores.

According to industry sources familiar with the offer, Mexico's Grupo Carso SA has asked Credit Suisse to quietly approach people who might have an interest in buying the company.

Over the last two years, private equity firms flush with cash have turned to the retail sector to find companies that are poised for growth or ripe for a turnaround.

CompUSA's problem is that retail is going to the two-per-channel model, and they're a poor #3. CompUSA's sales of $4.6b are less than half of Circuit City's $11.6b, and only about a seventh of Best Buy's $31b.

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