Online fashion retailer Boohoo Group is set to acquire troubled department store chain Debenhams.<\/p>\n
The cut-price deal will result in the closure of Debenhams’ remaining stores, according to a report in the Financial Times which has been confirmed by Sky News.<\/p>\n
The purchase price is expected to be about £50m, the newspaper said.<\/p>\n
Both companies declined to comment.<\/p>\n
It comes just days after Debenhams administrators FRP Advisory said they were still in talks with “a number of third parties regarding the sale of all or parts of the business”<\/strong>.<\/p>\n At the time, they announced that six stores would not reopen, including the flagship Oxford Street shop in central London.<\/p>\n The 242-year-old department store started a liquidation process last month after failing to secure a last-minute rescue sale.<\/p>\n Debenhams has been in administration since April last year but its problems pre-date the coronavirus crisis that has hurt so many high street retailers.<\/p>\n For much of its history, Debenhams was highly profitable and was an established anchor tenant on many UK high streets and shopping centres.<\/p>\n In the 1950s, Debenhams had 110 stores, making it the country’s largest department store group.<\/p>\n It listed on the London stock market for the third time in 2006, following a spell in private equity ownership that proved lucrative for CVC Capital Partners and TPG but which left its balance sheet saddled with what proved to be unsustainable debts.<\/p>\n And while customers increasingly moved their shopping online, Debenhams was opening new stores as recently as 2017 and its large physical presence came with high costs – rising rents, business rates and maintenance.<\/p>\n