Lifestyle management buys chain for £15m

The Lifestyle chain of sports goods outlets has been acquired from Tesco by a team of former Power Supermarkets managers for more than £15 million. The management team is headed by former Power Supermarkets director, Mr Andrew Sharkey.

Power Supermarkets was the previous owner of Quinnsworth, Crazy Prices and Lifestyle Sports.

The Lifestyle Sports chain of 57 retail shops, spread throughout the Republic and Northern Ireland, sells sportswear, footwear, clothing and equipment.

The shops have a turnover of about £40 million and employ about 310 people. The business will now receive between £7 million and £9 million as part of a capital investment programme.

Funding for the buy-out comes from a large, unnamed venture capital company and one of the two leading Irish banks. Venture capital accounts for about 60 per cent of the funds, with the bank taking up the rest. The four main individuals involved are Mr Sharkey, Mr Andrew Towell, Mr Harry Kenny and Mr Tony McEntee.

Mr Sharkey will become managing director, Mr Towell will become operations director, Mr Kenny will become purchasing director and Mr McEntee will become finance director.

The acquisition team says it intends to open several new stores and is confident of "further developing the 15 per cent market share" the chain holds at present. While there is no indication of how many new jobs might be created, the management team says the new stores and expansion plans for existing stores will mean "significant" job opportunities.

Although most of chain's 57 stores are stand-alone units, some outlets are housed within the existing Stewarts or Crazy Prices stores. According to a spokesman for the team, it has entered into several leasing arrangements with Tesco to remain in these stores in Northern Ireland.

The spokesman would not reveal how much this was costing, but said it was "negligible".

When Tesco announced the sale at the beginning of July, there was an initial approach from 20 interested parties.