Doubts have emerged surrounding a controversial ‘fire sale’ property agreement that seems to indicate Wilko passed up on as much as £40m, all while the embattled retailer tried to stay above water.
The business fell into administration earlier this month, putting 12,000 jobs at risk after failing to secure a financial lifeline.
The Mail on Sunday reports that Wilko’s flagship depot was sold in a controversial sale and leaseback deal.
The 1.1m sq ft site at Manton Wood in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, was sold to logistics giant DHL last November for £48m.
Subscribe to Retail Gazette for free
Sign up here to get the latest news straight into your inbox each morning
However two months later DHL sold the property for £88m to Canadian private equity firm Brookfield Asset Management, whose chairman is former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney.
Lord Mann, Labour MP for Bassetlaw said: “That’s too big a change in value over such a short period.”
Gordon Brown, Wilkinson’s managing director from 1992 to 2007, said the sale of Manton Wood for £48mwas ‘surprising’ as it cost £35m to build in 1994 and was expanded in the early 2000s. ‘I would have thought it would be worth more,’ he added.
The potential £40m that Wilko missed out on is identical to the sum it borrowed earlier this year from private equity firm Hilco.
A well-placed source said the Wilko deal was a ‘fire sale’, adding: ‘They needed cash desperately.’
The revelations come after The Mail on Sunday established that £77m had been taken out of the business in dividends in the last decade, including in years when the 93-year-old chain – owned by the descendants of founder James Kempsey Wilkinson – made a loss.
Potential bidders for some or all of Wilko’s 400 stores include its discount rivals B&M, Poundland and The Range.
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter
