Theo Not Rescued Woolworths Then?

BYALPHAINDIA

I thought THEO was going to make an offer for the Ailing 'Woolies'

And save 27,000 jobs & lives?

Why make a promise that you can't keep?

WHEN SOMEONE SAYS THEY ARE GOING TO DO SOMETHING - YOU DO IT?

Just typical of him & his other Dragons of the Den:rolleyes:

I bet they don't have a mortgage!:money: :rolleyes:

Kez100

I understood the administrators wouldn't accept his offer.

Look, the business was in big trouble. He clearly wasn't prepared to meet the requirements of the administrators and didn't think it was a viable opportunity under the deal they did want.

BYALPHAINDIA

Okay, Point taken.

Cleaver

BYALPHAINDIA wrote: »

I thought THEO was going to make an offer for the Ailing 'Woolies'

To be fair I think the lad is busy with his Arsenal career.

madtrekker

He did but the administrators didn't want to accept it. The real-estate value of the sites where the stores are located (i.e prime high street positions) are worth a lot more than the business is. Thus the administrators would rather sell sites off individually - I believe places like Tesco Metro and Sainsbury's Local are set to take on many of the old Woolies sites.

paulmx3

madtrekker wrote: »

- I believe places like Tesco Metro and Sainsbury's Local are set to take on many of the old Woolies sites.

that will be interesting if they do,at a guess they will utilise them to in the way which suits them best,buy them leave them empty and try to completely kill the high street,thus making their existing out of town stores even more of a necessity.;)

Cleaver

madtrekker wrote: »

He did but the administrators didn't want to accept it. The real-estate value of the sites where the stores are located (i.e prime high street positions) are worth a lot more than the business is. Thus the administrators would rather sell sites off individually - I believe places like Tesco Metro and Sainsbury's Local are set to take on many of the old Woolies sites.

Thank Christ for that. We could do with some more Tescos.

socrates

I think you will find that a lot of Woolworth shops freeholds were sold and leased back. So they do not actually own the asset for balance sheet purposes.

Secondly I remember reading a very interesting post on here along the lines of - people that do what Theo does can no longer cherry pick which parts/sites of a Company they actually want to buy - as some companies were pre-packaging themselves to sell post bankruptcy - or something along those lines. I know someone will drag it up and explain it properly.

Having some inside knowledge on the Entertainment UK side of things it was Zaavi that really took them down.

There is still a market for the E UK side of the business as they had that pretty sewn up - so it remains to see what happens there.

As for Theo - it is possible that he could not secure the finance or was unprepared to pay the charges levied for that finance.

For example I know a guy who buys flats to rent out. It is prime time for him to buy at the moment or shortly anyway.

He refuses to pay 3% above base and a 2-3% arrangement fee - especially as when rates do rise this cost will be enormous.

Incidentally I also know someone who bought a Woolies and leased it back to them - he is in a very bad situation right now!

Generali

I feel very sorry for those losing their jobs. This might cheer them up:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=RGJtyzikhAY

Rochdale_Pioneers

The administrators had no interest in selling Woolies as a going concern. It was effectively worthless and the bankers owed £350m wanted to see as much cash come back as possible. A deal where someone buys the business for £1 doesn't realise much cash for them.

socrates

I think buying a Company for £1 for example - where you already have distribution centres set - the stores are already kitted out - a lot of stock is in place - staff are trained etc. etc.

Is not rocket science - the clever part is knowing which business is worth buying and having the back end infrastructure in the first place.

I think Theo does this very well to be honest!

As for the other Theo he does what he does very well as well!