Style Group Brands sold to group of retail investors in pre-pack deal

Style Group Brands, owner of Jacques Vert, has been sold in a pre-pack deal to a group of retail investors which includes former Jaeger owner and ex-chair of the British Fashion Council Harold Tillman.

Administrators KPMG announced in a statement that the business was placed into administration and subsequently sold to Calvetron Style Holdings, a newly incorporated investment vehicle which is backed by Tillman, Sandeep Vyas and Haseeb Aziz. News of the trio's interest in securing a deal to buy the business emerged last week.

The deal has secured almost 1,300 UK jobs (and a further 400 jobs globally) however 270 staff, including almost 100 at its London HQ, have been made redundant. Style Group Brands is a largely concessions-based business however seven concessions in Belgium and 17 standalone stores in the UK (all Jacques Vert full-price or outlet stores) do not form part of the sale and will close immediately.

"The deal rescues one of the UK’s leading concession retailers and will see the continued trading of four high street brands, preserving a large number of jobs.  It is a positive outcome given the challenging economic pressures faced by retailers across the UK," said joint administrator and partner at KPMG Will Wright.

"Whilst a significant number of jobs have been preserved, sadly redundancies will be made. Over the coming days, our priority is to ensure all employees who have been affected by redundancy receive the information and guidance they need in order to claim their entitlement from the Redundancy Payments Office," he added.

Other brands in the Style Group Brands stable include Precis Petite, Eastex and Dash. It operates 318 concessions in the UK and Ireland, seven in Belgium (which will now close), 51 in Canada and 14 in the Middle East. It also had 22 standalone stores in the UK, only five of which remain.