Habitat finds home with Argos owner

Home Retail Group completes purchase of Habitat brand in the UK and three London stores The company behind Argos and Homebase has bought the Habitat brand in the UK and its three flagship stores in London for £24.5m. The rest of the loss-making UK chain, owned by retail restructuring specialist Hilco, has been put into administration. Home Retail Group acquired the rights on Friday to the exclusive use of the Habitat brand, its brand designs and intellectual property in the UK and Ireland. It is also buying Habitat’s UK website, which was launched last year, plus certain brand support functions and the stores in London’s Tottenham Court Road, King’s Road and Finchley Road. Habitat, which runs 33 shops across the UK employing 900 people, has appointed Fraser Gray from Zolfo Cooper as administrator to the business in the UK to enable a “fundamental restructuring”. Habitat’s remaining 30 UK stores will trade as usual while the administrator talks to potential buyers. Hilco, which acquired Habitat in 2009 from the Kamprad family, the owners of Ikea, said it was in advanced talks to sell Habitat’s profitable European arm to a major European listed group. A deal would need clearance from the French works council and the competition authorities in France, but the sale is expected to complete in August. Phil Wrigley, Habitat’s executive chairman, said: “The sale of the brand and three flagship stores to Home Retail Group secures the future of Habitat and will enable the business to move forward in the UK with the benefit of the group’s multichannel strength.” Home Retail Retail industry Julia Kollewe guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 24, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.