Private equity firm CBPE, owner of the Cote restaurant chain, has bought furniture retailer Sofa.com in a deal thought to be worth up to £50 million. The company also announced that the ex-boss of high street jeweller Mappin and Webb will join the company as chairman.
Sofa.com was founded eight years ago by entrepreneurs Rohan Blacker and Pat Reeves, who paid £141,000 at the time for the domain name. The pair also started internet takeaway service Deliverance but sold it in 2004 to Active Private Equity.
Justin Stead, the former chief executive of Aurum Holdings for six years, which owned jewellery chains Mappin & Webb, Watches of Switzerland and Goldsmiths, will now be taking the chairman role.
