Irish department store Arnotts’ banks have drafted in a team of specialists including former Brown Thomas chief executive Nigel Blow to identify growth opportunities at the troubled business.

Blow has been parachuted in by Anglo Irish Bank and Ulster Bank following the completion of a debt repackaging in January. He is working alongside Caryn Lerner, the former chief of Canadian department store Holt Renfrew, for investment and restructuring group Pallagin Capital.

The Pallagin team is working with Arnotts chief executive David Riddiford.