Arcadia plc

04 October 2002

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On 10 September a Â£955m deal was agreed in principle for the public to private takeover of Arcadia plc by Taveta Investments, a vehicle owned by the family of BHS owner, Phillip Green. Completion of the deal is awaiting acceptance from Arcadia shareholders. Bank of Scotland was unable to comment on a specific timetable for completion. The Â£955m transaction will comprise Â£880m debt and Â£6m equity from Bank of Scotland Integrated Finance, and Â£69m equity from Taveta Investments.

Company

The Arcadia Group was formed in January 1998 following the demerger of Debenhams from The Burton Group plc. Arcadia is a leading UK retailer with a diversified portfolio of brands including Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Wallis, Top Shop, Top Man and Miss Selfridge. The Arcadia Group currently employs approximately 25,000 people in over 2,000 stores in the UK and more than 300 stores (primarily franchise operations) internationally. For the year ended 25 August 2001, the company reported sales of Â£1,897m (2000: Â£1,955m) and profit before tax and exceptional items of Â£53m (2000: Â£8.5m loss). At 25 August 2001, Arcadia had net assets of Â£385m.

People

Handling the deal on behalf of Bank of Scotland are Peter Cummings, Alan Ross, Graeme Sankland, Donald Stark and Padrig Matthews. Adam Broadbent is non-executive chairman of Arcadia plc, and Stuart Rose is CEO.