Blacks to enter admin as salvage deal nears
Blacks Leisure, the outdoors retailer based in Northampton, has this morning (6 January 2012) confirmed it will go into administration. Mike Ashley's Sports Direct and Dragons' Den star Peter Jones are among the bidders understood to be eyeing up a rescue deal for the stricken company. A sale of the business in a pre-pack deal is expected in the next few days.
The retailer, which runs 98 Blacks outlets and 208 Millets stores, revealed last month (December) that a full sale looked "unlikely" and implied it would turn to a pre-pack deal to save as many of its 3,600 jobs as possible. Blacks' brands include Millets, Peter Storm and Eurohike.
Professional services firm KPMG is running the sale process and it is now proposed that partners Brian Green, Richard Fleming and David Costley-Wood will be appointed as administrators. Shares in the company have been suspended from trading on the London Stock Exchange with immediate effect.
KPMG said final bids have been received from interested parties, including offers to acquire substantially all of the trade, assets and brands of the group.
Newcastle United owner Ashley is Blacks' majority shareholder, with a 22.5 per cent interest. In addition to his Sports Direct business, bidders are understood to include rival sportswear business JD Sports and entrepreneur Peter Jones, whose involvement in the process was only publicly revealed earlier this week.
Northampton-based Blacks put itself on the market before Christmas after amassing about £36m of debt.
The operating subsidiaries of the group will continue to trade through all outlets outside of an administration pending any sale.
