Dublin family agrees deal to buy Poundworld in the UK

The Henderson retailing family from Dublin is understood to have agreed a deal to buy a tranche of up to 50 Poundworld stores out of administration in the UK.

The Hendersons, who established a similarly named but unrelated Poundworld chain in the Republic in the 1980s, have also agreed with administrators to buy the Poundworld brand name in the UK.

The family said on Thursday afternoon that its offer for the "best and remaining" Poundworld stores in Britain has been accepted by administrators from Deloitte, which has shuttered close to 300 stores since the chain collapsed into insolvency in June.

It is understood that a deal between Deloitte and the Hendersons has been agreed in principle for between 35 and 50 stores, although the transaction has yet to be finalised. Deloitte declined to comment on Thursday afternoon.

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It is understood that the Deloitte administrators will shut all of the stores on Friday, as per a predetermined closure deadline for the remaining stores that had not been shuttered earlier in the summer. The Hendersons will then reopen their tranche once the deal they have agreed is completed.

The family, who said they approached Deloitte with backing from European investors, last week established a new company, RVP Holdings, to operate Poundworld, which had 335 outlets when it went into administration. Their bid was initially made through a family entity based in the US, Corinthia Investments.

Back to profit

“We are delighted to have agreed the purchase of Poundworld and we now look forward to bringing the company back to profit and provide current and new customers with an unrivalled product offering at low prices,” said David Henderson.

His father, Dubliner Ray Henderson, founded the unrelated Irish chain Poundworld in the Republic in 1984. It was sold in 2007, a few years after it converted to a euro-based offering.

David Henderson has previously suggested to The Irish Times that the family may move Poundworld away from selling most of its products for £1 and widen its range with some higher-priced products.

He stressed, however, that it would retain the Poundworld moniker and remain true to its discount-store core identity.

“We want to make Poundworld great again,” he said last month.

The family joined the bidding for Poundworld late last month, entering negotiations with Deloitte even as the administrators announced that they planned to shut down the entire network.