Mike Ashley firm draws up €55m loan plan for Arcadia Group – report

Frasers Group chief Mike Ashley (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)

Plans for an emergency multimillion-pound loan to Philip Green’s struggling Arcadia Group have reportedly been drawn up by Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group.

It comes just a day after Mr Green’s retail empire was revealed to be on the brink of collapse with around 15,000 jobs at risk.

Arcadia Group, which runs the Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Burton brands, is expected to appoint Deloitte as administrators in the coming days.

The offer from Frasers Group, which runs Sports Direct and House of Fraser, amounts to £50 million (€55.9m) likely to be in the form of a secured loan, Sky News reported.

Arcadia Group runs the Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Burton brands (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)

The broadcaster quoted Chris Wootton, Frasers’ chief financial officer, as saying: “We hope that Sir Philip Green and the Arcadia Group will contact us today to discuss how we can support them and help save as many jobs as possible.”

But the PA news agency understands there has been no formal approach to Arcadia.

The group had been in emergency talks with lenders in a bid to secure a £30 million (€33.5m) loan to help shore up its finances.

If the insolvency is confirmed, it is expected to trigger a scramble among creditors to get control of company assets.

It is the latest retailer to have been hammered by the closure of stores in the face of coronavirus, with rivals including Debenhams, Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group and Oasis Warehouse all sliding into insolvency since the pandemic struck in March.

The group has more than 500 retail stores across the UK with the majority of these currently shut as a result of England’s second national lockdown, which will end next week.

Earlier this year, Arcadia revealed plans to cut around 500 of its 2,500 head office jobs amid a restructure in the face of the coronavirus crisis.