Gordon Brothers mulls potential Wilko rescue deal
PwC is understood to be seeking binding offers within days, with Wilko being close to running out of cash
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The investment company, Gordon Brothers, which has backed high street retailer Laura Ashley, is in talks with Wilko’s advisers at PwC about structuring a potential deal, Sky News has learned.
An offer could involve Gordon Brothers providing funding to the discount retailer to implement a restructuring that would involve “significant” numbers of store closures and job losses.
This follows last week’s announcement from Wilko that confirmed the business filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators, putting as many as 12,000 jobs at risk.
According to Sky, while insiders said today (8 August) that the chance of Gordon Brother reaching a deal to rescue Wilko were “relatively low”, one source said the firm had expressed an interest in partnering with other financial investors to inject roughly £20m of equity, while it would provide an additional ballpark of £50m in debt financing.
The project is reportedly being overseen by Mark Newton-Jones, the former Next, Very Group and Mothercare executive, who was appointed to lead the investment firm’s European operations earlier this year.
Meanwhile, specialist turnaround investors, Alteri and Opcapita, have been examining offers for Wilko in recent weeks. However, they are said to be unlikely to do so ahead of an insolvency process.
PwC is understood to be seeking binding offers within days, with Wilko being close to running out of cash.
If it is appointed as administrator, PwC will run a further sale process before embarking on a liquidation of Wilko’s assets if no deal is forthcoming, Sky reports.
Mark Jackson, chief executive of Wilko, said last week: “We’ll continue to progress discussions with interested parties with the aim of completing a transaction which preserves the business and will encourage those interested parties we’re in discussions with to move as fast as possible.
“We continue to believe that our robust turnaround plan, with significant re-stabilisation cost savings in progress, will deliver a profitable Wilko and maximise the significant opportunities that we know exist.”
Gordon Brothers has been contacted for a comment.
