Retail Adventures has been snatched from the fire, following an offer of over $55 million to buy the business out of administration.
As previously reported in Ragtrader [February 2013], the discount variety retailer was placed into voluntary administration in October 2012 and had since garnered up to 15 bids for purchase from interested parties.
However, joint administrators – Deloitte Restructuring Services Partners Vaughan Strawbridge, David Lombe and John Greig – have now confirmed that the business is back in the hands of former owner Jan Cameron.
Cameron, also the former owner of adventure apparel brand Kathmandu, bought back Retail Adventures for a sum of $58.9 million earlier this week via DSG Holdings, a company she also owns.
Commenting on the sale, administrators said it the outcome was a “much better result than if the business was not sold as a going concern”, as a closure would have resulted in the termination of approximately 4,700 employees of the business.
In addition administrators have noted
that the terms of the sale require an extension of the convening
period for the second meeting of creditors to allow for these
negotiations to take place.
Strawbridge has also revealed
that, overall, the total number of employees made redundant through
the administration had reached 786, including casuals.
Since the company's initial collapse, store numbers have also decreased, from 268 on appointment of administrators, to 236.