By Mark Kleinman, City Editor
Britain's biggest seller of secondhand cars is to reverse onto the London stock market in a £1.2bn deal that could be announced within hours.
Sky News has learnt that British Car Auctions (BCA) is in the final stages of talks about an agreement to be acquired by Haversham Holdings, a vehicle set up to buy companies in the automotive sector.
Sources close to the deal said the transaction could be announced as early as Thursday morning.
If it does take place, the reverse takeover would see £1.2bn raised from institutions including Aviva Investors, Artemis, Invesco, Schroders, and Woodford Investment Management, the firm set up by Neil Woodford, the City's best-known fund manager.
Established last year, Haversham is fronted by Avril Palmer-Baunack, a former boss of Autologic who subsequently had a short-lived spell as boss of Stobart, the haulier company.
Shares in Haversham were suspended last week after the company issued a statement confirming Sky News' disclosure that it was in talks to acquire BCA.
Insiders said that if the deal is announced on Thursday, Haversham shares would probably resume trading during the course of next week.
BCA, which operates the online operation webuyanycar.com, has been owned by Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), the private equity firm, since 2009.
Reports had suggested that CD&R would retain a stake of roughly 10% in Haversham once the deal is completed, but several sources said on Wednesday that it was unlikely to remain such a substantial shareholder.
The BCA takeover will coincide with a £935m refinancing of the AA, the breakdown recovery service, and a £2.5bn flotation of Auto Trader, which is part-owned by rival buyout firm Apax Partners.
CD&R attempted to launch a flotation of BCA last autumn, but abandoned it, blaming volatile global equity markets.
At the time, it said: "The board and shareholders were very encouraged by the broad engagement and interest in BCA shown by investors and remain excited about supporting the next phase of the group's growth.
"BCA has an excellent track record as Europe's leading used vehicle marketplace with strong revenues and earnings growth on the back of momentum across its physical and digital platforms."
Operating from more than 200 locations across Europe, BCA claims to be more than two-and-a-half times the size of its nearest competitor.
It said last autumn that over the three-year period to the end of 2013, BCA saw revenues rise 74% to £442.3m, with adjusted pre-tax profit growing by 27% to £62.5m.
In total, more than 900,000 vehicles were sold using BCA in 2013, with 37% of those transactions taking place online, highlighting the growing importance of digital channels in the sector.
A spokesman for Haversham declined to comment.
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