Retail Acquisitions on the brink of liquidation

London - Retail Acquisitions, the former owner of collapsed high street retailer BHS, is said to be on the brink of liquidation.

Owned by former bankrupt entrepreneur Dominic Chappell, Retail Acquisitions first made headlines back in March 2015, when Chappell purchased BHS from Sir Philip Green Arcadia Group for 1 pound. Following the demise of the high street chain, which led the loss of 11,000 jobs and a 571 million pound pension deficit, Chappell was accused of taking approximately 17 million pounds from BHS before it entered into administration in 2016.

Since then the UK's Pensions Regulator has secured a cash settlement from Green which sees up tp 363 million pounds being put into BHS pension scheme. But the Pension Regulator is currently said to be seeking as much as 17 million pounds from Chappell and Retail Acquisitions via legal action in relation to the pension deficit.

A parliamentary investigation into the fall of BHS found Retail Acquisitions guilty of regularly plundering the retailer, saying Chappell had "his fingers in the till." Then following insolvency proceedings for Retail Acquisitions, a high court judge ruled the company should be placed into liquidation on Wednesday afternoon. The judgment has temporarily stayed but it is expected to be formally passed down over the next few days.

The insolvency will give administrators for BHS, Duff & Phelps, complete financial records of Retail Acquisitions and offer them clarity as to where funds from BHS were taken in the hopes of retrieving assets for BHS and its creditors. “Duff & Phelps, acting on behalf of BHS Group Ltd, is satisfied that RAL has been put into liquidation," said Duff & Phelps in a statement to the Guardian. "The process of realising the assets of RAL can now commence to the benefit of all the creditors of the BHS companies."