Peacocks owners lining up £600m fashion chain sale

Shareholders, led by the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs, are said to be keen to capitalise on the boom in budget retailers during the recession.

The report in The Sunday Times said a sale of the Cardiff-based retailer would mean a tidy profit for management, including chief executive Richard Kirk who has a 30 per cent stake.

Other investors include the US hedge funds Och-Ziff and Perry Capital.

Peacocks, which owns the Bonmarche discount chain, has been boosted by the success of a collaboration with the singer-turned-fashion designer Pearl Lowe.

Like-for-like sales rose 17 per cent over the Christmas period and the company said it was benefiting from its ability to react quickly to fashion trends.

Peacocks, which has around 540 stores, has also continued with its expansion programme after opening 28 stores in the nine months to the end of December, including outlets at Dover, Wrexham and Basingstoke.

It is expected to open around 40 new shops in the current

year.

Elsewhere in the sector, it was reported that women's fashion chain Phase Eight is to be taken over by its management in a deal backed by Russian investors.

The company, which has 80 stores and 127 concessions in department stores including John Lewis and Debenhams, made sales of 59.2 million and a profit of 4.4 million in the year to January last

year.

Kaupthing Capital Partners bought a 49 per cent stake in 2007 but the Icelandic bank collapsed in 2008 and the private equity arm has been run by its administrator.

The Sunday Telegraph said the management buy-out is led by Phase Eight's chairman Michael Rahamim and backed by Kew Capital, which invests on behalf of the billionaire founders of Russian steel giant Evraz.