A new wild card in the warehouse club space

Sam’s is enjoying some solid momentum these days, but a potential buyout of BJ’s Wholesale Club announced Friday morning could create some competitive issues in market where the companies operations overlap.

Of course, that assumes the private equity firms Leonard Green & Partners and CVC Capital Partners, the companies who have joined forces to take BJ’s private, are interested in growing the business and investing in operations as opposed to simply squeezing the 190 unit retailer for cash.

The investment firms submitted regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday morning indicating their intentions, but the potential deals is hardly new news. BJ’s has long be the subject of buyout speculation and the conjecture intensified last year when Leonard Green acquired an ownership stake which now stands at 9.3%. Then earlier this year, BJ’s stated the obvious by revealing it was exploring strategic alternatives.