Little known UK-Luxembourg group EB Private Equity makes property play for embattled retailer David Jones

It was Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts who suggested in April that prospective suitors might want to look past the lax retailing environment and focus on David Jones’s potential as a property play.

This afternoon the UK-Luxembourg firm EB Private Equity has offered to buy the retailer in a $1.65 billion takeover deal.

EB Private Equity's website describes the group as a Luxembourg and UK real estate investor and developer.

"EB Private Equity has developed an expertise in real estate investments that ranges from investments in commercial (office and retail), leisure and alternative asset class investments,'' the group's website says.

David Jones's share price had surged nearly 14% to $2.59 at today, after chairman Robert Savage said the company had received an unsolicited takeover offer.

After Friday’s big jump in the value of David Jones shares, the company’s market capitalization sat at just $1.4 billion.

Some market watchers have done quick research into the EBPE company website (www.ebpe.net) noting its carries little substantial information except some feel-good quotes from JPMorgan and John D. Rockefeller.

The AFR note some of the text looks like it has been copied from the website of another UK real estate investor named Moorfield.

The company’s URL is registered to a mailbox address in the UK with a July 27 expiry and lists Yahoo! addresses as contacts.

Data collector Dealogic says it has no record of EB Private Equity.