Solomon Lew will have final say on bid for electrical appliance group Breville

Veteran retailer Solomon Lew and his investment company Premier Investments look certain to decide the fate of GUD Holding’s $300 million bid for electrical appliances group Breville.

GUD, which owns the Sunbeam brand, launched its all-scrip bid for Breville on Friday. The deal would give GUD the ability to expand its consumer electrical business outside of the Australian and New Zealand market; as a licensing agreement with the owner of the Sunbeam brand restricts GUD from selling Subeam outside this local patch.

GUD already owns 19.4% of Breville and managing director Ian Campbell says his company’s bid has already has the support of several key institutional investors, who control a total of 28%.

That gives GUD 47.4% of the company, as long as a higher bid for Breville does not emerge.

However, there is growing speculation that Lew and Premier, who control just over 30% of Breville, could be considering a rival bid. Premier’s website says the company has “approximately $300 million cash available to invest in opportunities which leverage Premier’s expertise”.

Premier is the owner of the Just Group, which includes the Just Jeans and Jay-Jays chains.

So far, Lew and Premier have not made a formal response to the GUD bid.

The proposed deal values Breville at $2.20 a share, a long way above the low of 46.5c the shares hit in March this year in the depths of the financial crisis.

The stock soared 59c on Friday to $2.09 following the announcement of the deal and were at $2.10 is morning trade.