Brookfield, TPG, CPP Investments, and Starwood Capital are among the private equity firms that have been courted by London-listed self-storage company Big Yellow for a potential take-private deal, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The initial conversations with these sponsors took place before Blackstone’s approach was made public in mid-October, they said.

Nicholas Vetch, executive chairman of Big Yellow, had pitched the company to multiple PE sponsors, this news service reported last week.

This led to early-stage exploratory chats with several PE sponsors, which would likely have been attracted by the size of the asset and the fact that the chairman was soliciting interest, one of the sources said.

The second source said PE firms began looking at options for Big Yellow back in the summer.

Blackstone announced on 13 October that it was considering its position in relation to the UK self-storage group, including a cash offer.

The US-based investor has until 8 December to either announce a firm intention to make an offer or withdraw from the process, after the ‘put up or shut up’ (PUSU) deadline was extended on 10 November.

Blackstone is in “active dialogue” with Big Yellow on a sale, as reported, but is waiting on the impact of the upcoming UK budget on 26 November before deciding how to proceed.

Blackstone is likely looking at how the UK budget may affect business rates and consumer discretionary spending, as per the same report.

There is still a possibility for an interloper, the first source said, but didn’t explicitly point to the PE firms previously courted.

UK-listed Big Yellow has a network of facilities across the UK, offering storage solutions to households and businesses. A deal could value the company at between GBP 12.25 and GBP 13.85 per share, according to an analysis by The Morning Flash.

Today (17 November), Big Yellow’s share price closed at GBP 10.96, giving it a market capitalisation of GBP 2.16bn.

Big Yellow and CPP declined to comment. Brookfield, TPG, and Starwood did not respond to a request for comment.