Sir Philip Green’s family is set to pay £50m into his crumbling fashion group’s pension pot in the next 10 days, as the business secretary called on the watchdog to investigate.
The business secretary Alok Sharma yesterday asked the insolvency watchdog to investigate whether the actions of directors across the Arcadia Group, which owns a number of brands including Topshop, Burton and Miss Selfridge, may have led to issues for the retailer’s pension fund.
The group sank into administration on Monday, potentially leaving a £350m pension black hole for its more than 13,000 staff who now face being forced out of a job before Christmas.
Last year, Tina Green, Sir Philip’s wife and the ultimate owner of Arcadia, pledged to pay an extra £100m into the pension fund over three years, and signed over property worth £210m, in order to get a company voluntary arrangement passed by creditors.
Tina Green has so far paid around £50m of the extra funding into the pension pot and yesterday Arcadia said she would pay the remaining amount within 10 working days.
However, despite the extra funding, there are still concerns the fund will fall short due to the collapse in Arcadia’s property values. The Greens are also facing added pressure on pensions as this is the second retailer to collapse on their watch while having a pension pot in the red.
Sir Philip Green was forced to pay £353m to support the BHS scheme after its collapse in 2016, following pressure from the Pensions Regulator.
The pension situation at Arcadia is also controversial because Green took a £1.2bn dividend from the business in 2005.
Writing to the Insolvency Service yesterday, Sharma called on the watchdog to take a “rigorous” look at Arcadia, and prime minister Boris Johnson highlighted the letter, saying “we will be doing everything we can to restore the high streets of this country”.
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