Eagle Merchant Partners, a private equity firm, is exploring a sale of PODS Enterprises Inc that could value the U.S. moving and storage company at about $1 billion, including debt, according to people familiar with the matter. Atlanta-based Eagle Merchant, whose team came from bankrupt Bahrain investment firm Arcapita Bank BSCC, has hired investment bank Barclays Plc to assist with the PODS Enterprises sale process, one source said.The sources asked not to be identified because the discussions were private. Spokespeople for PODS Enterprises, Eagle Merchant and Barclays did not respond to requests for comment.Founded in 1998, PODS Enterprises delivers containers to customers who use them for moving or storing belongings. It operates in 48 U.S. states, Canada, Australia and Britain through its company-owned and franchise network.The Clearwater, Florida-based company said on its website it has carried out more than 2 million deliveries and nearly 142,000 PODS containers, as big as 16 by eight feet, in service. It loads the containers onto its trucks through a patented hydraulic lift system it calls PODZILLA.
Barclays PLC (Barclays) is a global financial services provider engaged in retail banking, credit cards, wholesale banking, investment banking, wealth management and investment management services. Shares of BCS fell by 0.9% or $-0.1351/share to $14.95. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $13.96 and as high as $19.59. On average, 3037110 shares of BCS exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 1446256.
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