Woolworths' Administrators Continue to Seek Buyer for Business
Woolworths Plc opens store closing sale - Thurs 11 December 2008
The Joint Administrators to Woolworths Plc announced, yesterday, that a store closing sale will begin in stores today (Thursday 11 December). The Administrators continue to actively seek
buyers for the Woolworths assets and negotiations with a number of interested parties are ongoing.
Neville Kahn, reorganisation services partner at Deloitte, commented:
"We continue to make every effort to convert interest in the Woolworths assets into firm offers. While we are still seeking bids from interested parties, Christmas is clearly the busiest time
of the year for retailers and it is prudent to do all we can to sell existing stock. By moving to a store closing sale and further discounting the stock, we are maximising the sales potential
that this period offers."
If no offers for the Woolworths business are forthcoming, then it is possible that some stores may close before the end of December. The Administrators will begin a consultation process with
all employees to provide an update on the latest developments and discuss the support available in the event of redundancies.
Neville Kahn, Nick Dargan and Dan Butters of Deloitte, the business advisory firm, were appointed as Joint Administrators on 27 November 2008. Since being appointed, they have been seeking a
buyer for Woolworths Plc as a going concern.
Dan Butters, reorganisation services partner at Deloitte, commented at the time: ?We will be looking for a suitable buyer for all parts of the business. In the last 24 hours we have
received expressions of interest from a number of parties for both the retail and wholesale businesses. We are working hard to ensure that any sale of the business, in whole or part, will
preserve jobs.
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