BON Marché, the Huddersfield-based fashion chain, has been sold in a deal that will lead to 1,400 job losses and 160 store closures.
Private equity firm Sun European Partners, which also owns the Alexon and Jacques Vert brands, has bought the women’s clothing retailer, which was part of the collapsed Peacocks Group, out of administration.
Sun agreed a so-called pre-pack deal for an undisclosed sum.
The agreement covers the entire chain apart from three stores, with the firm continuing to run 230 outlets and closing around 160.
The store closures mean it will continue to employ about 2,400 of the chain’s 3,800 strong workforce.
Around 200 people work at the firm's HQ and distribution warehouse in Grange Moor.
Bon Marché, founded in 1982, has a store on New Street in Huddersfield town centre and is the UK’s largest value retailer selling affordable quality womenswear to women aged over 45.
Whereas administrators were called in to take charge of the Peacocks chain, Bon Marché had been kept out of administration to allow sale talks to continue.
It was briefly in administration this morning which meant the vast majority of its debt was written off before the new owners took over.
A Bon Marché employee revealed last week that the potential buyers had been on a tour of the Grange Moor site last Tuesday evening.
Sun vice-president, Matthias Gundlach, said: "Bonmarche is a great brand that operates in an attractive niche of the apparel sector that we know very well."
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