Last updated at 6:05 PM on 5th January 2012
Peter Jones has bid to buy ailing Blacks Leisure
Dragons' Den star Peter Jones has tabled a bid for ailing outdoor clothing retailer Blacks Leisure, a spokesman for the entrepreneur said today.
The multi-millionaire is one of four potential buyers, which are understood to also include Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley's Sports Direct and sportswear firm JD Sports.
The outdoor clothing group, which owns 98 Blacks outlets and 208 Millets stores, is likely to be sold under a pre-pack administration deal after it said it did not expect an offer for the group's shares, only for its trade, assets and brands.
The loss-making company, which employs 3,600 staff in outlets and at its head office and distribution centre in Northamptonshire, put itself up for sale after failing to secure extra funding to turn around the business.
Mr Jones, one of the longest-serving 'Dragons' on the BBC show, is chairman and chief executive of Phones International Group, the telecommunications business he founded in 1998.
Blacks Leisure put itself up for sale four weeks ago in a last-ditch effort to save it from collapse.
On the day it announced the move, shares in Blacks Leisure fell by 50 per cent to £1.3million from £3.2million. The stock tumbled more than 95 per cent in 2011.
The group, which made a £16million loss in the first half of last year, has been hit by low consumer confidence and squeezed household budgets.
The directors had hoped to secure funding for a turnaround of the business, which would have included a revamp of its stores, but its shareholders failed to put up the cash required.
Sports Direct is understood to have previously proposed a joint venture with Blacks to merge its warehousing and IT operations.
Time to pack up? Millets stores could disappear from the High Street if its parent company Blacks fails
Mr Ashley's company, the largest shareholder with a 21 per cent stake, launched a failed takeover bid for Blacks in 2010 and turned down an equity raising in April.
Last month, Nick Bubb, retailing analyst at Arden Partners, said: 'The problem with Blacks has always been that its core Blacks chain is not unattractive, but the Millets chain is a millstone around their neck.
'All eyes will now turn to see what Sports Direct will do, but their strategy will probably be to pick up what they want from the receiver in January.'
Blacks was hit by the warm weather in October and November as much of its clothing is aimed at harsher conditions, such as fleeces and waterproof jackets.
Mr Bubb added: 'Poor old Blacks has simply bowed to the inevitable and admitted that it is impossible to get funding, with their share price so low and their prospects so bleak.'
Blacks was hit by the warm weather in October and November as much of its clothing is aimed at harsher conditions, such as fleeces and waterproof jackets
Source : dailymail
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