A pair of published reports out this morning say that Home Depot has agreed to sell its HD Supply unit to a consortium of Bain Capital LLC, Carlyle Group L.P. and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Inc. for slightly more than $10 billion.
Home Depot was not commenting on the reports as of midday.
The deal, reported by Reuters and The Wall Street Journal, would remove Home Depot from the wholesale supply business and allow it to focus on its core retailing operations. The company has said it was exploring a sale, and analysts expect that HD Supply president Joseph DeAngelo will stay on board.
The $10 billion price tag is considerably lower than Home Depot had originally anticipated when it announced it would explore “strategic alternatives” for the unit. At the time, company executives speculated that the unit could fetch as much as $13 billion. The downturn in the housing business, however, intervened.