Crunch week as BHS seeks a fresh start
BHS hopes to enter a new era this week with the business set to be sold while its administrators prepare a high court complaint against the retailer’s former boss Dominic Chappell.
Administrators plan to announce BHS’ new owner in the coming days, with bids understood to have come from Matalan founder John Hargreaves, Poundstretcher, and an unknown private equity group.
Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley had been linked to a bid for the department store chain, although Morning Wire understands he is no longer a contender.
Read more: Chappell to be slapped with BHS law suit
A source close to the deal told Morning Wire that hopes are high that a bidder will take on the retailer in its entirety, safeguarding thousands of jobs, although this has yet to be confirmed and it could be sold piecemeal.
The expected sale comes as BHS’ administrators launch a high court suit against the retail chain’s former boss, Chappell.
Duff & Phelps intends to file a suit today, specifically targeting Chappell, and arguing that the businessman has not co-operated with its investigation into the retailer’s collapse.
Chappell owns a 90 per cent stake in Retail Acquisitions, which purchased BHS from retail tycoon Sir Philip Green in March 2015 for £1.
Meanwhile, MPs will ratchet up the pressure on advisers who were instrumental to BHS’ controversial sale to Chappell-led Retail Acquisitions in 2015.
Read more: It's the advisers' turn to be grilled by MPs over BHS
In parliamentary committee hearings beginning today, Work and Pensions Committee chair Frank Field plans to focus on ties between Green and Goldman Sachs.
Goldman Sachs provided informal advice to Green’s Taveta Investments, the parent of former BHS owner Arcadia Group, over the sale of the retailer, but was not paid to do so. The bank’s Anthony Gutman, co-head of EMEA investment banking services, has been called to give evidence.
Field told Sky News: “I want to know why this was the case. Banks do not make big profits by acting as charities.”
Green and Chappell have also been called to give evidence to MPs.