Lady Green pockets £50m from Arcadia break-up as former staff face a cut in their retirement income thanks to £200m pension deficit
The break-up of Sir Philip Green’s empire was completed yesterday – handing his wife a £50million boost.
Boohoo bought the remaining Arcadia brands for £25million – taking the amount raised by administrators Deloitte to £500million.
The online fashion retailer will take Wallis, Dorothy Perkins and Burton online meaning 214 more stores will shut their doors permanently, putting 2,450 people out of work – 80 per cent of whom are women.
Payday: Tina Green (pictured with husband Sir Philip Green) will pocket a £50m windfall following the break up of the Arcadia fashion empire
Asos has already bought Miss Selfridge, Topman and Topshop for £265million, and City Chic bought Evans for £23million.
The money raised will be used to pay back some of the £750million owed to creditors.
Green’s wife Tina will be one of the first in line for a windfall of £50million, as a loan she made to Topshop is repaid.
The payment will come as former staff face a cut in their income in retirement thanks to a pension deficit estimated to be in excess of £200million.
Pressure is mounting on the Greens, whose wealth mostly comes from a £1.2billion tax-free dividend paid from Arcadia in 2005, to fill the hole.
Further money will be raised through the administration from selling property, including Topshop’s prized Oxford Street store, which is expected to fetch between £300million to £400million.
Analysts lauded Boohoo’s acquisition, but shares in the AIM-listed stock fell nearly 5 per cent amid fears of a tax raid on online lockdown winners.
Jefferies said: ‘We see this deal as a very good one for Boohoo. A very reasonable price for some substantial, scaled assets.’
Boohoo now has 15 brands on its website, putting it in position to mount a challenge on mainstream High Street names such as Next and M&S.
Executive chairman and co-founder Mahmud Kamani said the acquisition allowed the group to ‘extend our market share across a broader demographic’ and ‘capitalise as more and more customers shop online’.