Making sense of the past seven days
At last, everyone can breathe a sigh of relief.

Baugur, through its Highland Acquisitions consortium, has tabled the long-awaited 148p a share offer for House of Fraser, valuing the department store group at£351.4 million.

The deal was so widely trailed in the papers - some of them reduced to writing day after day that it was 'imminent' as the August silly season produced a dearth of news - that there are few surprises in the details of the transaction.

The story will really begin to get interesting once the acquisition is completed. After the success pulled off by Rob Templeman and his team at Debenhams, you can expect to see some of the same private equity methods employed at HoF.

In the same way that Debenhams made the most of its Designers at Debenhams range to create a USP, HoF will build on its image as a house of brands. Along with the introduction of other Baugur-owned concessions, it is likely that the new owners will be keen to create a roster of much more exclusive brands than HoF currently stocks.

But the private equity way of doing things is likely to be most evident at an operational level. Efficiencies will be ruthlessly squeezed out of the business. A strategic review will be undertaken and the Baugur consortium has already indicated that 'it is anticipated that this will involve some staff reductions'.

Similarly, space allocation will be addressed. Expect to see more of the linear conversion techniques employed to great effect at Debenhams under Templeman.

Baugur will also realise cash from HoF's property portfolio, with a sale and leaseback of the Victoria head office planned.

In the 29 weeks to August 19, HoF's like-for-likes fell 1.6 per cent, which is not bad going in the present climate. There is clearly opportunity in department stores, as evidenced by the success of store groups as different as Debenhams and John Lewis.

Now that Debenhams is a public company once again, it will be fascinating to watch how things progress at a privately held HoF.

Blacks' profit warning earlier this week was hard to credit. Although it is perfectly understandable that volatile weather and other factors should have disrupted trade, the retailer's management had started undermining its credibility before the latest bad news.

To blame the lack of a Glastonbury Festival this year for poor trading, as Blacks did last month, stretched belief. The message that was sent out about the sustainability of the business was horrendous - that it was dependent on a single event, unrelated to its core business, for success.

Then came this week's bad news on costs, and the City's patience with Blacks' leadership became sorely tried. Will Blacks now follow House of Fraser into the hands of a private equity firm that can make it work?