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Thursday, 02 February 2012 |
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 In the first week of bidding to acquired the troubled Welsh retailer, administrators at KPMG have received six bidders for Peacocks, which has debts totally £750m, reported BBC. The joint administrators are trading the company during the
sales process and all stores are continuing to operate and trade.
The first round of bidding was on Monday for the clothing firm, which has 563 stores and 48 concessions. The deadline for final offers is next Monday. Now, the six bidders will be asked to provide further details ahead of a round of final offers next, advanced Wales Online.
The administrators KPMG say the retailer outlet's overall debt stands at £750m, about the same as the overall sales of the group. They said they would keep on the remaining 266 employees at the Cardiff head office and continue to run Peacocks' stores and concessions as it sought a buyer.
Following the final offers next week, all the bids will be reviewed by the administrators before a final decision is made, however, it is still unclear how long that will take.
First-round bids mainly came from private-equity firms and trade buyers. As broadly commented within the industry, Sun European Partners and OpCapita are among potential bidders. Other names mentioned as potential bidders were Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Edinburgh Woollen Mill.
Last week, when the bidding process was revealed, joint-administrator Chris Laverty described interest in the business as “huge”. “We had over 100 conversations with interested parties looking at either acquiring the whole business or parts of the business in the first 48 hours alone; whilst the capital structure was not sustainable, the underlying business has a loyal customer base,” he added. In the same vein, David McCorquodale, corporate finance partner at KPMG, added: “We are in discussions with both trade and financial investors considering the acquisition opportunity.”
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