Booker to float with reverse takeover

Cash & Carry group Booker is returning to the stock market via a reverse takeover deal with grocery wholesaler Blueheath.

Subject to shareholder approval, the new company, to be called the Booker Group, will be listed on the AIM market on June 4, with a market value of about £350m.

Booker went private after the break-up of the Big Food Group, which also included retailer Iceland, in 2004. Blueheath has now conditionally agreed to acquire the share capital of Booker owner Giant Topco, through the issue of more than 1.3bn new shares in Blueheath.

The deal has been thrashed out by the two businesses as a means of returning Booker, the UK's largest cash & carry group, to the market. Blueheath's investors will own around 10 per cent of the enlarged group, with the current shareholders of Giant Topco owning the remainder.

Booker chief executive Charles Wilson will continue to run the business. He said: "Booker has made great progress in the last 18 months and this transaction gives us the opportunity to take the group to the next level.

"A combined Booker/Blueheath will be able to offer retailers and caterers an unrivalled service of national delivery, top-up delivery and cash and carry."