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Wednesday, 25 January 2012 |
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The Bonmarché retail group may see a brighter future
after it was rescued out of administration by Sun European Partners, however 1600 employees are expected to lose their jobs.
The losses will largely come from the store closures, where 394 shops will be reduced to almost half. Sun European is acquiring about 230 of Bonmarché's stores from the administrator KPMG, in the process saving about 2,400 jobs at the value retailer.
Bonmarché, which targets an over 40 customers, was acquired by Peacocks in 2002. Four years later, the Peacock Group loaded up the company with debt in a £420m buyout that took it private. The deal was backed by two hedge funds, Och-Ziff and Perry Capital, as well as the Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs.
Matthias Gundlach, the vice president at Sun European, said: "Bonmarché is a great brand that operates in an attractive niche of the apparel sector that we know very well... Bonmarché has a loyal customer base of regular repeat buyers."
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