JOB FEARS AS BILLIONAIRE BIDS £5.7M FOR BONMARCHE

BILLIONAIRE tycoon Philip Day has launched a takeover bid for womenswear chain Bonmarche – putting jobs and stores at risk.

The 53-year-old, who owns Edinburgh Woollen Mill, Jaeger and Austin Reed, tabled a bid of just £5.7m for the struggling company. Bonmarche was valued at £100m when it joined the stock market in 2013 and £158m when shares peaked in 2015.

But shares have dived as it struggled to attract customers.

Yorkshire-based Bonmarche, which was set up in 1982, has 321 stores and 1,900 full-time staff.

Day, who launched the bid through his Dubai-based investment vehicle Spectre, said he would carry out a store-by-store assessment of the chain that could lead to the closure of unprofitable sites.

He also warned of ‘a material reduction’ in staff.

Day tabled the takeover offer after snapping up a 52.4pc stake in Bonmarche through Spectre.

He has now offered to buy the rest of Bonmarche’s shares for 11.4p each. Shares fell 25pc, or 4.5p, to 13.5p.

Day has amassed a £1.2bn fortune by snapping up ailing retailers in cut-price deals.

The entrepreneur bought Edinburgh Woollen Mill in 2001, which now houses Peacocks, Jaeger, Jane Norman and Austin Reed.