Sir Philip Green pays £363m into BHS pension scheme
Sir Philip Green has agreed to pay £363m into the pension fund of collapsed retailer BHS as part of a settlement with pension regulators and trustees.
The retailer fell into administration last April leading to 11,000 redundancies and leaving a pension fund deficit of £571m. A year before Sir Philip, who also heads up Arcadia which owns Topshop and Miss Selfridge among other high street brands, had sold the business to former bankrupt Dominic Chappell for just £1.
A parliamentary investigation was launched and Green faced calls from MPs to have his knighthood stripped but, when called before MPs, he promised to "sort" the pension issue.
In a statement today Green said the injection of cash into the fund would provide a better outcome for pensioners than the scheme being placed into the Pensions Protection Fund. "I hope that this solution puts their minds at rest and closes this sorry chapter for them," he said.
Chief executive of the Pensions Regulator Lesley Titcomb said it was a "strong outcome" for members of the scheme.
The Honours Forfeiture Committee said last month that it would not decide on whether to strip Green of his KBE before the outcome of investigations by the Insolvency Service and the Pensions Regulator were known, which could take years.
