Yahoo Finance Charlie Mullins in talks for £100m Pimlico Plumbers deal
Charlie Mullins is planning to sell a chunk of Pimlico Plumbers in a deal that could value the business at £100m.
Mr Mullins, who has become a celebrity himself after turning his one-man band into a company with almost 400 staff, is in talks with private equity about a deal.
The "tradesman to the stars" has hired Cavendish Corporate Finance to advise on a sale, with the tender document being issued last week, Bloomberg reported.
It is understood that a number of private equity investors are interested.
Mr Mullins has been an outspoken business voice for more than a decade, championing apprenticeships, raising the possibility of running for London mayor and criticising Britain leaving the EU.
He has made regular media appearances since the pandemic hit, saying coronavirus vaccines should be mandatory for his employees and labelling people working from home as “selfish”.
Mr Mullins said: “We are always looking out for investment. We are a growing company and want to expand both within London and further afield. We feel there are good opportunities for expansion at the moment, especially given some of the problems currently being experienced by large players such as British Gas.”
A Pimlico Plumbers insider said that in the event of a sale Mr Mullins, the executive chairman, and his son Scott, chief executive, “are going nowhere” and intend to retain key roles.
In February The Telegraph revealed how Mr Mullins was in talks with investors in the Gulf region about taking the business international.
The plumber said that businesses in states such as Dubai - where he was holidaying - were “crying out for quality British workmanship”.
Earlier this year, Pimlico forecast it would hit record annual sales of almost £50m.
It is not the first time Pimlico Plumbers has been up for sale. In 2018 he came close to selling a 20pc stake in the business, but the deal was abandoned.
In December last year Mr Mullins divorced his second wife just four years after their Las Vegas wedding.
He is also trying to sell his six-bedroom Essex mansion in Hutton Mount, near Brentwood, for about £4m. The sale was not a "direct result of the divorce", a spokesman for Mr Mullins told the Daily Mail earlier this year.
