Retail rivals eye BHS as it falls into administration

RETAILERS are eyeing BHS shops after the firm fell into administration yesterday.

Edinburgh Woollen Mill, Sports Direct, Primark and TK Maxx are all thought to be in the running to take on batches of stores.

Administrator Duff & Phelps said it received more than 30 expressions of interest in buying the 164-shop department store chain.

Retail Acquisitions, run by a group of relatively unknown investors and led by former bankrupt Dominic Chappell, bought BHS from billionaire Sir Philip Green for £1 in March last year. However a series of funding deals failed to materialise and it emerged yesterday that Retail Acquisitions extracted more than £25m from BHS leaving it unable to continue, and putting nearly 11,000 jobs under threat.

BHS collapsed after failing to find fresh funding. It could not complete a deal with restructuring specialist Gordon Brothers.

The group had already lent it £10m secured against its store in Bristol, and Retail Acquisi- tions was trying to borrow £60m to pay back lender Grovepoint Capital, a private equity business that had helped it buy the business last year.

The deal failed as it could only access the loan by paying £2m in upfront fees with interest payments that were going to be as much as £100,000 a week.

The company also failed to raise as much from property deals as it had hoped – falling £28m short of its target.