Shandong Ruyi says it will not be buying Sir Philip Green's Arcadia

Chinese fashion group Shandong Ruyi has said it will not be buying Sir Philip Green's Arcadia Group, following reports it was in the frame to acquire the Topshop-to-Burton fashion empire over the weekend.

In a short statement set to The Industry, a spokesperson for the company said it was "not the case [that] Shandong Ruyi will soon acquire Arcadia Group".

Yesterday The Sunday Times reported that the Chinese business, which owns a majority stake in French fashion group SMCP (Sandro Maje Claudie Pierlot) and Swiss luxury house Bally among others, had visited Green's Arcadia HQ to run the rule over the business. It also said that Arcadia had also been in talks with US fashion group Oxford Industries but these had since ceased.

It is not clear whether Green is planning to sell all or part of his fashion empire. It has been suggested that he may wish to extract flagship brand Topshop & Topman from any deal but the pension hole in Arcadia needs careful consideration. Last year Green agreed to pay £363m of his own money into the pension pot of BHS, which had collapsed in 2016, a year after he had sold it to former bankrupt Dominic Chappell.