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Peacocks moots sale of Bonmarché again
Fri, 16 Dec 2011

Peacocks is again looking at selling Bonmarché, its discount clothing retailer for older women, after previously mulling a sale in March this year.

The Peacock Group has tried twice to sell Bonmarché without success in order to restructure its capital base. It has £240 million of debts to repay.

Bonmarché has at least 4,000 staff manning its 380 stores across the UK. The Peacock Group, the parent company of the Peacocks clothing retailer, acquired the chain in 2002 for £50 million.

It is expected that some of the stores will be closed down as part of the restructuring process for Peacocks.

Peacocks is presently deep in discussion with Lloyds, and its shareholders including Goldman Sachs and hedge funds Och-Ziff and Perry Capital, about a new capital structure.

It is thought likely that a debt-for-equity swap would be part of any deal made.

Peacocks was in discussions with Duke Street Capital to sell Bonmarché earlier this year, but the talks broke down.

The group operates 380 Bonmarché stores, as well as 611 Peacocks shops and another 117 stores overseas.

Peacocks reported earnings of £66.5 million for the year to March 2011. The downturn in consumer spend on the high street continues to hit retailers.

Read our previous story - The Peacock Group mulls sale of Bonmarché.

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