The department store chain has been put into administration twice in the last yearDebenhams could be broken up between potential buyers as concerns grow about the future of the department stores chain and its 14,000 employees. Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group, Next and a Chinese consortium are among the parties interested in buying Debenhams’ stores as the retailer’s owners desperately hunt for a buyer. Its hedge fund owners have enlisted advisers at Hilco, a restructuring firm specialising in winding up retailers, to draw up plans to liquidate the business if all other options fail, Sky News said. A Debenhams spokesman said that Hilco’s involvement was a “last resort” contingency plan by administrators at FRP. Meanwhile, a sale process run by Lazard, the investment bank, is continuing, although it remains in the early stages.

Source: The Times August 16, 2020 23:03 UTC