Quilvest Joins £100m Race To Bag Paperchase

One of the world's most prominent family offices has joined a £100m-plus bidding war for Paperchase, the high street retailer.

Sky News understands that Quilvest, which manages the wealth of Switzerland's Bemberg family and other high net worth clients, is among several financial investors, which in recent weeks tabled formal offers for the upmarket stationery chain.

Quilvest is understood to be competing against a number of US private equity bidders, while earlier reports suggesting that Card Factory and WH Smith were also vying to buy the chain are said by insiders to have been inaccurate.

Primary bought Paperchase in 2010 from Borders, the bookstore chain which had run into financial difficulties, in a £30m deal.

Paperchase has continued to be profitable, despite consumers' changing purchasing habits, with bespoke digital greeting cards and stationery services becoming increasingly popular.

The chain operates from more than 130 UK stores and 30 shops overseas, including in the United Arab Emirates, France and Germany.

Paperchase recorded sales of £28.4m in the five weeks to December 27, up 6.5% on the previous year, a strong performance during a Christmas which reflected mixed fortunes for many high street businesses.

If Quilvest does emerge as the victor from the sale process, it would not be the first time that it has acquired a business from Primary Capital's portfolio.

In 2008, it bought Yo! Sushi from Primary, and seven years later is now looking to offload the business.

Last autumn, Primary Capital hired advisers at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Financo, a US-based firm, to handle an auction.

A spokeswoman for Primary and Paperchase declined to comment.