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Pandora Soars After Report That PE Funds May Buy Jewelry Maker

Pandora Soars After Report That PE Funds May Buy Jewelry Maker

(Bloomberg) -- Pandora A/S shares soared in Copenhagen on a report that private equity funds are considering buying the beleaguered Danish jewelry maker.

The stock added as much as 11 percent, the most since May 2016, after Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore said KKR and Bain Capital are among private-equity funds that could be studying a dossier on Pandora. Sole, which didn’t cite anyone for its reporting, said the jewelry maker is a “perfect target” for buyout funds.

Pandora Soars After Report That PE Funds May Buy Jewelry Maker

Before Tuesday, Pandora shares were down more than 60 percent from a May 2016 peak as the bracelet maker has battled weak retail sales in the U.S., competition from cheap imports in China and a phalanx of hedge funds betting against it.

The market value of Pandora is now roughly $7 billion compared with a 2016 peak of $18 billion. The stock is currently trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.2. That’s the lowest among a peer group of nine international jewelry companies, which have an average PE ratio of 15 (including Pandora’s), according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Read more: Pandora’s New CFO Puts Own Money on the Line in Confidence Vote

Johan Melchior, a Pandora spokesman, said he didn’t immediately have any comment, when contacted by phone.

--With assistance from Chiara Remondini and William Canny.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christian Wienberg in Copenhagen at cwienberg@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tasneem Hanfi Brögger at tbrogger@bloomberg.net

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