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Morrisons has tabled a last-gasp bid to wrest McColl’s Retail Group from the clutches of its Asda-owning rivals just hours before administrators are formally appointed to oversee its sale.
Sky News can reveal that Morrisons has lodged an improved offer with McColl’s lenders that would see them repaid immediately in full, satisfying their principal demand.
It was unclear on what basis the latest proposal could be rejected, or whether EG Group – which appeared on Friday to have sewn up a swoop on one of Britain’s biggest convenience chains – would seek to prevent it going through with a further proposal of its own.
There were suggestions on Sunday afternoon that PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the adviser to McColl’s lenders, was preparing to stage a final two-way shootout between the rival suitors later this evening, with both asked to table best and final bids.
PwC declined to comment.
The demise of McColl’s has rapidly turned into a political controversy encompassing its pension scheme and the fate of its 16,000 workers.
McColl’s lenders rejected a solvent rescue offer from Morrisons on Friday that would have involved them rolling over more than £100m of debt into the supermarket chain, but being repaid in full as the loans expired.
Sources told Sky News last week that the lenders were demanding immediate repayment, leading them to opt for a rival bid from EG Group, the petrol retailing behemoth, that involved instant repayment of the bulk of their debts but was conditional on McColl’s being placed into administration.
This weekend, the trustees of McColl’s pension schemes waded into the row, with a spokesperson saying: “Any company looking to acquire McColl’s must do the decent thing and ensure that promises made to staff about their pensions are honoured.
“We would be extremely surprised if any organisation with an interest in demonstrating good corporate citizenship were to use a pre-pack administration to cease supporting the schemes,…
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Source : skynews
