Portuguese consortium said to still be working on BHS despite closure - part 3

Most of my peers and rivals are down in Westminster live tweeting Sir Philip Green's interview (wind up) by MPs.

But I thought I would take this opportunity to set the record straight. After this morning's post I had a call from a representative of the Soares do Santos family in Portugal, claiming the family is not backing Greg Tufnell's consortium in its attempt to buy BHS. 

Portuguese consortium said to still be working on BHS despite closure - part 2

It would appear Mike Ashley isn't the only bidder still trying to get hold of BHS - or parts of it, at least.

Well-placed sources have told me the Portuguese consortium, led by Greg Tufnell (Phil Tufnell's brother) and backed by the dos Santos family, was also contacted by administrators on Sunday about whether it would still be interested in buying BHS.

Skewered

Once again Oliver Shah comes up a with more cracking stuff on the BHS saga in today's The Sunday Times. Here is a link to today's scoop:

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/business/revealed-greens-plan-to-split-empire-with-chappell-q8zvwrf5v

Portuguese consortium said to still be working on BHS despite closure

I'm very sad to read the reports about administrators to BHS failing to secure a rescue deal for the beleaguered store group.

However, I have one well-placed source that says the consortium led by Greg Tufnell, brother of former England cricketeer Phil Tufnell, is still working a plan to buy the chain despite reports administrators are planning to appoint Hilco to liquidate the company's assets.

The curious case of the BHS dealmaker, the Nottingham-based sock maker and the Swiss retailer

Just when you thought it couldn't get any more bizarre, little old Betaville can add another intriguing twist to the BHS saga.

It turns out that Paul Sutton - the dealmaker who reportedly worked on the original sale of BHS to Dominic Chappell's Retail Acquisitions - has been cooking up another multi-million pound takeover deal. In fact, Olly Shah of The Sunday Times already alluded to this potential deal in one of his past scoops on BHS.

Weekend review

There were a couple of pieces in the Saturday business sections that caught my eye.

In particular, I enjoyed Fletch's interview with Justin King, the former J Sainsbury boss who is now a top bod over at private equity firm Terra Firma. I would provide readers with a link to Fletch's article but The Times has done something weird to its website which means I can't find the link.

Retail titbits

Here are a couple of retail industry snippets I stumbled across whilst galavanting around the City (of London) today looking for stories.

First of, it would appear the sale of handbag maker Radley is progressing, with bids said to have been submitted last week.

Sunday review; and Mike Ashley to save BHS? - part 2

It's been another tricky weekend for Sir Philip Green. In fact, the boisterous billionaire's reputation took a serious battering in the UK business press throughout the whole of last week following the confirmation of the BHS administration.

What must be particularly galling for Sir Philip is those newspapers that have up until now held back from critiquing the entrepreneur could no longer sit on the sidelines and it pretty much became open season on the pugnacious retailer.

Sunday review; and Mike Ashley to save BHS?

Olly Shah, of The Sunday Times, and Neil Craven, of the Mail on Sunday, appear to be leading the coverage on this weekend's major business story - the potential collapse of department store chain BHS.

Here are links to their pieces:

Something to take your mind of the China market rout - a Sunday review on a Monday

London-based investors, bankers and brokers are currently transfixed by the rout in Chinese markets.

So, I thought I would look back over some of the Sunday newspaper's business sections for those markets participant that might want to take their mind off crashing stockmarkets.

A Sunday review on a Tuesday

Sorry for the lack of posts Betavillers - I have been away for a few days.

Anyway, after catching up on the last few days' business coverage it struck me that none of the mainstream press have followed up Oliver Shah's latest piece on the sale of BHS in The Sunday Times this weekend. Here is the link:

BHS individuals - part 2

It's still not clear who the "individuals" are behind the BHS deal despite the fact that several top Sunday newspaper business reporters had a good stab at trying to unveil their identities.

Ben Marlow's Rainmaker column in The Sunday Telegraph provided some more interesting detail on the backgrounds on the frontmen to the deal. Here is a link to the piece:

BHS individuals

Looking over this morning's coverage of the BHS deal it's still not clear (to me, at least) who has actually bought the retail chain from Sir Philip Green.

Aside from the frontmen, reports suggest that Retail Acquisitions (the purchaser of BHS) is "backed by a group of eight to 10 individuals in different businesses, including oil and gas".

Back on Tip TV talking about BHS, Aer Lingus and Quindell

It's a Monday, so I was invited back onto Tip TV to talk about the weekend's deal stories and other bits and pieces.

Here is a link to today's clip: http://www.tiptv.co.uk/archives/talk-on-phillip-greens-plans-iag-and-quindell/

Sunday review

Huge hat tip to Oliver Shah over at The Sunday Times for his scoop about Sir Philip Green putting BHS on the market. Here is a link to Oliver's piece:

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/business/Retail_and_leisure/article1510992.ece