Administrators acting for Woolworths are to cut 450 jobs from the support operations based in London and Rochdale amid ongoing talks aimed at finding a buyer for the group.
Deloitte said that it was in talks with ’several parties’ interested in buying the chain as well as potential bidders for some of it’s outlets, thus fuelling much speculation in the media over the past few days as to who maybe involved in negotiations.
It appears that major shareholder Ardeshir Naghshineh the Iranian property tycoon who owns around ten percent of Woolworths, would favour a rescue deal and is working hard toward that end, while there is speculation that Tony Page who currently runs the Woolworth stores, may lead a management buyout.
The latest rumours are that US company GameStop has made a bid for around half of the retail outlets in a bid to step up competition for UK market leader Game Group. Dragons Den panelist Theo Paphitis who wanted to cherry pick the Woolworths stores that he wanted, pulled out saying that ‘The constituent parts of Woolworths are more valuable than the whole.’
This is likely to prove a stumbling block for other would be suitors with Wilkinsons, Sainsburys, Tesco, Co-op and Poundland appearing to be interested in part of the retail inventory only. Asda have allegedly expressed an interest in the purchase of the majority of the high street stores, although there is no confirmation of that interest from either party.
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