Lloyds Banking Group, the main lender to All Saints, has appointed accountancy firm KPMG to advise on its options should it fail to attract a buyer in the next week.
Talks between the retailer and a consortium including the Beirut-based business M1, co-founded by the likely next Lebanese Prime Minister, collapsed on Wednesday.
US investment firms Goode Partners and MSD Capital are understood to have stepped up their interest in buying the business but it is understood that Goode Partners’ valuation falls short of the £140m attached to it by All Saints’ Icelandic investor, nationalised bank Kaupthing.
Sources told Sky News if a buyer for All Saints cannot be found Lloyds would have no option but to put the company into administration.
However, Kaupthing, the now defunct Icelandic bank which owns a significant stake in All Saints, is expected to pump more cash into the business if a deal is not finalised. It originally agreed to offload its shares in the business but is understood to be prepared to hold on to them if the need arises. “Kaupthing would never let the business go into administration,” said one well-placed person.
There are thought to be another two investment firms waiting in the wings to make offers if the Americans also pull out.
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