How Master Shifty made a tidy £3m profit from a BHS property
SIR Philip Green’s stepson made a quick £3million profit buying and selling one of BHS’s shops.
MPs have questioned why Sir Philip sold the store in Ealing, west London, just a week before the whole chain was offloaded for £1.
Brett Palos – the son of Sir Philip’s wife Lady Green – bought the shop for £6.9million, selling it four months later for £10million.
Critics have suggested BHS could have got a better price. Sir Philip insisted he was not involved in the decision to sell the store for 30 per cent below what it was worth soon afterwards.
And Mr Palos, 41, said he could not see a conflict of interest. He bought the store through his property company, Thackeray Estates, shortly before BHS was sold in March 2015 to former bankrupt Dominic Chappell. The Ealing store was then sold on in June to property developer Southern Grove, with backing from investment firm Topland Group.
It has since been sold again to a housing association, which plans to convert the store into 136 homes and 15,000 sq ft of retail space.
Mr Chappell told MPs on the business and pensions committees he was ‘shocked’ when he discovered the deal. But when he questioned it, he claimed Sir Philip replied: ‘That’s showbusiness.’
Sir Philip has two children of his own with Lady Green, Brandon and Chloe.
He previously suggested they may not have what it takes to succeed in retail, saying: ‘They’re both very smart, but you’ve got to dedicate yourself to this stuff, it doesn’t happen on its own.’
Mr Palos is the son of Lady Green from her first marriage to South African businessman Robert Palos.