THE founder of Phones4U, the mobile phone chain, is to reap £1.24 billion after his private company was sold for a higher-than-expected £1.46 billion.

John Caudwell — who founded the Caudwell Group with his brother 20 years ago and took eight months to sell his first order of 26 phones — sold the group yesterday to Doughty Hanson and Providence Equity Partners, the private equity firms.

Under the deal, Providence will acquire Phones4U, which has more than 350 stores across the UK and Ireland. Doughty Hanson will take control of 20:20 Logistics Distribution, a handset distribution division, which will be renamed 20-20 Mobile Group.

Mr Caudwell, 53, a former used-car salesman who lives in Broughton Hall, a £10 million Grade I-listed mansion in Staffordshire, owns an 85 per cent stake in the Caudwell Group, which now sells 26 phones a minute. His brother Brian owns 10 per cent, which will trigger a £146 million windfall. Craig Bennett, the group’s finance director, has a 5 per cent holding.

Yesterday’s sale price surprised the market, which had been predicting a £1 billion deal.

Mr Caudwell said yesterday that he would miss the business, “but running the (Caudwell Group) as well as conducting the sales process has been very stressful . . . I’ve got quite a few business ideas bubbling and I can’t help but think I will get back into it.” He said that he might plough his windfall into a leisure company owned by a friend and would continue to invest time and money in his favourite children’s charity.

Caudwell Group said that the sale should be completed next month. Mr Caudwell said that he did not anticipate any redundancies. Last year the group, which employs more than 8,000 people worldwide, enjoyed a 15 per cent rise in sales to £2.1 billion.

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