Sir Philip Greed ‘ditched BHS to dodge facing a bill for pensions’
SIR Philip Green sold BHS to delay the chain going bust under his stewardship and avoid a pensions payout, a report has claimed.
The Pensions Regulator said: “We argued that the main purpose of the sale was to postpone BHS’s insolvency to prevent a liability to the schemes falling due” [while Green owned the firm].
Labour MP Frank Field, who co-chaired a probe into the BHS collapse, said: “This report confirms Sir Philip stripped BHS bare and then left it for dead, with contemptuous disregard for the pensioners.” Green sold the store for £1 in March 2015. It collapsed a year later, with up to 11,000 job losses and a pensions fund black hole. The report came as Green, dubbed Sir Philip Greed, claimed he offered £363million to settle the pension saga days before the regulator started legal action. Four months later, he settled with them for that sum. He said: “We tried to have a conversation. They were offered the very same sum of money last October with a bank guarantee.”