Owners of Matalan and Selact are in advanced talks to save struggling BHS
John Hargreaves and Cafer Mahiroglu are understood to have a 'war chest' of £80million and a five-year turnaround plan
THE owners of Matalan and Select are in advanced talks to save BHS, it emerged last night - vowing to keep the brand and most of the stores and jobs.
John Hargreaves and Cafer Mahiroglu are understood to have a “war chest” of £80million and a five-year turnaround plan.
They are due to meet administrators Duffs & Phelps for a third time today - with a bid winner due to be named within in days.
Sun City has learned the duo are determined to keep the BHS name going.
It is feared other bids could break up the business, sell some parts off, and consign the brand to history.
Mr Hargreaves is a docker’s son who left school at 14 and founded Lancashire-based fashion chain Matalan in 1985.
His co-bidder bought struggling Select in 2008, helping it turn a profit by 2011.
The two fashion tycoons want to make the BHS brand “young and relevant again” – sell more electronic goods and develop its fledgling food business.
It is thought they want to place branded coffee shops in the stores as well.
A plan submitted by the pair aims to save between 120 and 130 stores – and at least 6,000 of the 11,000 jobs.
Their bid is understood to be “in the tens of millions of pounds”.
The tycoons’ plan anticipates making a profit on the company within the third or fourth year.
Details of their bid have so far remained secret.
Other potential buyers which have already emerged include Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley, and Peacocks and Edinburgh Woollen Mill tycoon Philip Day.
A source said of the Hargreaves-Mahiroglu plan: “It is a very credible bid, one that puts an iconic British brands, stores and jobs at its heart.
“They have no intention of breaking up the business, selling it off in bits, ditching the brand, milking it for money.
“They want to breathe fresh air into BHS, make it exciting again”.
Topshop tycoon Sir Philip Green sold BHS to Retail Acquisitions, owned by Dominic Chappell, last year for £1.
Even though he oversaw its collapse, Mr Chappell is also understood to be bidding to buy BHS.
The new buyer will not have to deal with BHS’s £571million pension deficit, now the concern of the Pension Protection Fund.
John Hargreaves and Cafer Mahiroglu are understood to be financing their bids privately, rather than through their respective companies.
Spokesmen for Mr Hargreaves and Mr Mahiroglu both declined to comment last night.
