Bidding for Irish department store Arnotts continues

Selfridges Group may be contending for a stake in Ireland’s department store

Arnotts, according to recent news. Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Ltd and Ulster Bank took over Arnotts in 2010 and put it up for sale. The banks currently control the 315 million euro loans from the department store, which stem from Arnotts problematic purchasing of retail properties in the Northern Quarter of Dublin. The loans were put together in a bank portfolio, known as ‘Evergreen,’ and have closed the first and second rounds of bidding, although it remains vague who is in the lead.

Galen Weston, who currently owns Selfridges Group as well as Brown Thomas in Ireland, will have to compete with private equity firm Palladin Capital, who according to The Belfast Telegraph is also vying for stake in Arnotts. The management team at Arnotts, compromising of chairman Nigel Blow and chief executive Ray Hernan, claim to have secured a backer who is willing to bid for the department stores loans, but are unwilling to reveal who it is. Inside sources say that the bidder is “knowledgeable of retail.” The backing offer is thought to have made it through to the second stage of bidding.

The management team will most likely have to go against Selfridges Group to win the bidding war, although a spokeswoman from the Selfridges Group denied any involvement in the bidding and dismissed the news as “the usual rumor and speculation.”