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In Dec-03 Baroness Retail (CVC Capital Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity) acquired UK department store company Debenhams plc in a scheme of arrangement for 470p per share valuing the equity at £1.67bn. Including £128m net debt at 30-Aug-03 and deducting £33m in investments total consideration amounted to £1.76bn. This implied the following multiples: 97% of LTM sales (£1.81bn, 1.9x capital turn), 6.8x LTM EBITDA (£259m before £17m exceptional costs, 14.3% margin), 10.0x LTM EBITA (£176m pre-exceptionals, 9.7%).