As the Isabel dos Santos’ camp issues statement denying any involvement in the race to buy British retailer BHS, a 'Portuguese-backed consortium' is said to be in pole position.
Matalan founder John Hargreaves and Select Fashions’ Cafer Mahiroglu have pulled out of the bidding after being asked to offer more money for the insolvent company.
The Portuguese consortium bid through a new UK company has disrupted the rescue process with earlier rumours suggesting that the Angolan billionaire, Isabel dos Santos, was interested in controlling the retailer which, although sales have collapsed, sits on significant property and lease assets.
The newly formed bidder, Richess Group, is headed up by a former director of Mothercare Greg Tufnell who currently chairs the boutique investment company House of Britannia.
There is also Nick De Scossa, formerly of Credit Suisse and best known for ticket application forgery earning him a Rugby Football Union 5-year ban from buying tickets to Internationals.
Then there’s José Maria Soares Bento who worked for the Anglo European Corporate Finance company but the money behind these front men is still a mystery with those in Portugal with sufficient money, inclucing the 'Pingo Doce' Soares dos Santos family, all denying involvement when contacted by news-hungry media.
The administrators, Duff & Phelps, want to sell the business as a going concern but the BHS pension fund trustees want the company to be broken up and sold off to help cover pension liabilities.
BHS’s former owner Phillip Green sold the company to the incompetent fantasist Dominic Chappel for £1 and it soon went bust, but not until Chappel has engineered several million in fees to his own benefit.
Philip Green is facing heavy fire over the depleted pension fund and his lucrative period of ownership of BHS that resulted in personal gain to the detriment of its current and future pensioners.
If Isabel dos Santos is behind the latest offer, her choice of front men is questionable as she is keenly aware that the media and regulators are analysing her every deal.
Suspicions continue that suggest that ‘the richest woman in Africa’s’ wealth originated from the repressive Angolan regime run her father where billions in State oil revenue has mysteriously disappeared over the years.
Unless the source of the money for the Richess Group's bid becomes known pretty soon, the administrators may dismiss the offer as speculative and unlikely to lead to BHS becoming a profitable company once again.
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