Dragons' Den star Jones tees off with takeover of American Golf

Peter Jones, the entrepreneur and Dragons' Den judge, is close to teeing off with the addition of American Golf, the retail chain, to his array of business interests.

Sky News has learnt that Mr Jones is in advanced talks to buy American Golf from Endless, its long-standing private equity backer. Mr Jones, a keen golfer who is understood to play off a handicap of eight, has invested in a string of British companies, including the camera retailer Jessops, which he bought in 2013.

His current portfolio includes Localised, an e-commerce platform for consumer brands, and Levi Roots, founder of the Reggae Reggae Sauce brand. Industry sources said that Mr Jones, who has also featured regularly in the Alfred Dunhill Championship, the prestigious pro-am tournament, was keen to grow American Golf's online presence and sales.

The chain, which trades from about 80 stores, has been owned by Endless since a rescue deal in 2018. Last summer, Sky News revealed that Endless had appointed corporate financiers from Alvarez & Marsal to handle a sale of the business.

One insider said a deal could be announced as soon as this week. American Golf, which has a workforce of several hundred people, sells products manufactured by leading golf brands such as Garmin and TaylorMade.

The value of the deal being negotiated between Mr Jones and Endless was unclear on Monday evening. Mr Jones, whose eponymous charitable foundation has raised tens of millions of pounds to provide young people with experience of enterprise, is understood to have expressed an interest in acquiring American Golf several months ago.

He is the only one of the original Dragons' Den judges to have remained in place since its inaugural series was broadcast by the BBC in 2005. American Golf was previously owned by Sun European Partners, another investment firm, which had acquired it from LDC, the private equity division of Lloyds Banking Group.

Mr Jones, Endless and A&M all declined to comment..