Co-operative Group sells cash security arm Sunwin for £41.5m
Alright, for a corporate deal it is hardly a princely sum – but the Co-operative Group has taken another step along the road to filling its £1.5bn capital hole by selling its Sunwin Services Group to Cardtronics for £41.5m
The company, which transports and provides security for cash and has 1,500 workers and 14 regional depots, was sold to Cardtronics, which bills itself as "the world's largest non-bank cash machine operator".
Appropriately, the transaction was entirely in cash.
The deal is part of the Co-op's ongoing attempts to fill a massive gap in its balance sheet, uncovered last year. So far, its most major sell-offs have included the £249m sale of its farming assets to the Wellcome Trust and the sale of its pharmacies to Bestway, for £620m – not to mention a large stake in its banking business.
In a statement to the stock exchange this afternoon, interim chief executive Richard Pennycook, who was parachuted in when boss Ewan Sutherland resigned suddenly in March, said he had no doubt Sunwin would "continue to develop further".