Management is understood to be interested in buying the troubled departmartment store chain
Minerva and Lehman Brothers, the principal shareholders of the holding company for Allders department stores has put the chain up for sale potentially leading to a management buy out. The financial backers of Scarlett Retail Group, Allders' holding company have revealed they have received interest from the existing management and from other potential bidders. The Allders chain is headed up by retail veterans Terry Green and Phil Cox.
Minerva's principal interest in Scarlett is the freehold of Allders' flagship store in Croydon, which it acquired in April for£48.825 million.
Seymour Pierce analyst Richard Ratner was sceptical that the existing management team would be able to accrue the funds necessary to buy the chain and to keep it going.
He said: 'We believe that Scarlett is still loss-making, albeit not at the same level as last year. However it could be that Terry Green manages to get the backing to buy both the business and to fund its ongoing requirement - although we would think that the odds are stacked against him. Watch this space.'
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