Pensioners at Sir Philip Green’s collapsed Arcadia fashion empire may receive more from their savings than originally feared, following property disposals.
The Arcadia scheme looks as if it may not need help from the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) after £173m was realised through the sale of assets, The Sunday Telegraph reported.
Cash raised so far has come from the sale of the flagship Topshop brand to fashion pureplay Asos and various property sales.
The Arcadia pension scheme had security over £210m of assets, including proceeds of the disposal of Topshop and the retailer’s flagship store along with other assets through a deal struck between the Green family, the trustees and the pensions regulator.
More cash is likely to be realised for the pension scheme, a letter to members revealed. Even so, it is unlikely that enough will be raised to completely clear the scheme’s deficit. That is is still being assessed by trustees, but the deficit is thought to be about £300m.
That is despite the Green family making a cash payment of £50m last December, which followed another £50m when Arcadia was restructured in 2019. Arcadia crashed into administration last November.
It is thought that because sufficient funds would be realised from asset sales the pension scheme would be able to be independent of the PPF.
That would be welcome for Arcadia pension-savers because the PPF only pays 90% of what is owed to savers who have not reached retirement age and it is capped at £41,461.
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