Following clothing chain Peacocks fall into administration, many questions are being asked about the 2005 management buy-out and the debt facility which was frozen by its lenders.
Chief executive Richard Kirk bought out the Peacock family back in the nineties, and oversaw an impressive turnaround. The company’s share prices were suffering as a consequence of general poor retail performance, despite Peacock’s posting good figures. Kirk decided to take the company private, with the backing of US hedge funds Och-Ziff and Perry Capital, investment vehicle Echelon, and Goldman Sachs, which is where the debt came in.
Meanwhile, KPMG has been appointed administrator to Peacocks, which owns 611 stores and 49 concessions across the UK, as well as its parent company The Peacock Group.
KPMG said all Peacocks stores remain open as it seeks to find a buyer for the business and no redundancies have been made.
Meanwhile, KPMG said Bonmarche, also owned by The Peacock Group, which employs 3,800 staff and operates some 394 stores, has not entered administration and a buyer is being sought for the business.
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