Peacocks administrator receives six bids to rescue the collapsed retailer
PEACOCKS administrator KPMG has received six bids to rescue the group out of administration.
The first round of bidding closed on Monday, and it is understood suitors for the Cardiff-based business will now be asked to provide further details ahead of a round of final offers next Monday.
Private equity firms KKR and OpCapita were last week still in the running to buy the company, while trade buyer Edinburgh Woollen Mill was also thought to be interested in buying parts or all of the chain. Sun European Partners, which bought Peacocks’ sister chain Bonmarché earlier this month, has also been linked to the company.
As many as 50 bidders were said to have originally expressed an interest in the beleaguered retailer, which owns 611 stores and employs 9,000 people – either as a going concern or for parts of its estate and its stock.
The chain collapsed earlier this month after rescue plans, including injecting fresh equity and a debt-for-equity swap, ultimately failed. The company has borrowings of more than £750m while it made sales of £720m in the year to April 2010.
A total of 249 staff, almost half of Peacocks’ head office workforce in Cardiff, have been made redundant. However, strong interest in the firm has raised hopes that KPMG may yet find a buyer to rescue the remaining jobs.