Preston millionaire Yousuf Bhailok pulls out of BHS bidding
Today is the deadline for bidders to improve their offers in the battle for acquiring BHS, ahead of a final decision on the sale which could come as soon as tomorrow.
Administrators Duff & Phelps have been assessing bids from various parties over the past week and it is understood that a decision will be made between Wednesday and the end of the week.
A number of parties have shown an interest in the struggling department store chain, which was famously sold by Sir Philip Green for £1 to twice-bankrupt former racing driver Dominic Chappell, alongside a £571m black hole in its pension pot.
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Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct, Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group, owned by entrepreneur Philip Day and Yousuf Bhailok were three of the top contenders, but it emerged yesterday that Bhailok had withdrawn his interest.
The Preston-based property magnate told The Telegraph that he had pulled out of the bidding process after being told he would have to raise his offer by tens of millions of pounds and that he would have to make an offer for all of BHS’s 164 shops, including 40 deeply loss-making stores.
Duff & Phelps declined to comment.