British retailer Debenhams has appointed refinancing and restructuring experts Hilco Capital to take it through the administration process.
In a statement to Cosmetics Business Debenhams maintained this was a contingency plan in the event the department store chain fails to find a buyer.
The beauty, fashion and homeware department store chain confirmed it had started looking for a buyer at the end of July.
Debenhams noted it had been performing well since stores were given the green light to reopen in July.
“Debenhams is trading strongly, with 124 stores reopened and a healthy cash position,” the retailer told Cosmetics Business.
“As a result, and as previously stated, the administrators of Debenhams Retail Ltd have initiated a process to assess ways for the business to exit its protective administration.
“The administrators have appointed advisors to help them assess the full range of possible outcomes, which include the current owners retaining the business, potential new joint venture arrangement (with existing and potential new investors) or a sale to a third party.”
The announcement comes less than a week after Debenhams said it was preparing to reduce its headcount by another 2,500.
This figure is on top of the 4,000 redundancies it indicated in April.
