A Chinese firm which supplies LK Bennett is closing in on a deal to buy the beleaguered fashion retailer from administrators.

Byland UK, a company set up by Rebecca Fung, is hoping to tie up a deal to buy the womenswear brand by the end of the week, Sky News has reported.

Sources told Sky “as few as a handful of the brand’s standalone stores were commercially viable” and questioned how many of the around 500 jobs currently at risk at the retailer could be preserved by a sale.

They also warned that the sale, being run by administrators EY, could still yet fall apart.

Byland UK has approached former LK Bennett chief executive Darren Topp and former finance director Andrew Ellis to assist with its bid.

In late March, footwear retailer Dune made an offer for LK Bennett but was outbid by Byland UK with a last-minute offer.

The high street womenswear brand collapsed into administration on March 7. It has already made 55 redundancies and closed five stores including in Sheffield’s Meadowhall shopping centre, Bristol, Liverpool, Brent Cross and Westbourne Grove.

At the time, Dan Hurd, one of the administrators, blamed “tough trading conditions for retailers” and “significant rent increases and business rate rises” for LK Bennett’s collapse.

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