BJ’s owners hungry for $4B+ sale: sources

BJ’s Wholesale Club will soon be back on the block.

The private equity owners of the regional warehouse chain are choosing to exit their 6-year-old investment via a sale rather than an initial public offering, The Post has learned.

CVC Capital Partners and Leonard Green & Partners, which took BJ’s private in 2011 for $2.8 billion, are hoping to attract a sale price of $4 billion to $4.5 billion, sources said.

That’s a healthy 10 times Ebitda, roughly the premium Amazon paid for Whole Foods.

The PE owners are in the process of premarketing the chain, which is often what happens in auctions.

They are speaking to fellow PE firms, such as KKR, sources said.

BJ’s was at a similar place this spring but postponed the sale after Amazon, a potential BJ’s suitor, in June agreed to buy Whole Foods, a source said.

Amazon is now likely out of the running.

Walmart in 2011 showed interest in buying BJ’s, but is not expected to this time, a source said.

Fellow private equity firms are the most likely buyers, attracted by the steady $250 million annual revenue stream from fees members pay at its 213 warehouse clubs. BJ’s also operates 130 gas stations.

The PE owners invested about $600 million in cash in buying the chain — the rest of the purchase price was funded with debt — so a sale in the hoped-for range would net them as much as a fivefold return on their investment, sources said — plus the dividends extracted over the years.

The PE firms declined to comment.