After much speculation in the national press about the future of high street hardware chain Robert Dyas, it seems a buyout deal has been struck to save the ailing retailer.


A management buyout has reportedly been agreed after the company's lender Lloyds Banking Group, now 43%-owned by the government and therefore, arguably, by the taxpayer, agreed to back the proposal. Ex Kingfisher and MFI director Stephen Round and corporate turnaround specialist Ian Gray will run the company.

The deal is expected to complete over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend and will save some 1,200 jobs across the brand's 105 stores.

Robert Dyas has been the subject of a number of administration rumours in recent months, something the company has always strongly denied.

However, a look at the company's figures shows the company appears to be several months overdue in filing its latest accounts. Another interesting point of note is that a brand new company called Robert Dyas Property Ltd was set up on March 30. Assuming the title is descriptive of the intended activity, it could suggest a move to separate the company's property holdings from its trading.

This could be either because it has some valuable property (freeholds and/or long leases on good terms) which it wants to hold on to should the trading business go into administration; or the exact opposite, i.e. onerous leases which it wants to get rid of, therefore, moving them all into a new property company and then allow it to go into administration while continuing to trade.

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