PPF Wants BHS Liquidator Amid Rescue Talks

The largest unsecured creditor in BHS has asked administrators to line up liquidators for the high street chain as talks about a rescue deal that could save 11,000 jobs enter their final stages.

Sky News has learnt that the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has held talks in recent days with BHS's administrator, Duff & Phelps, about the appointment of a liquidator, which would be responsible for overseeing the piecemeal sale and closure of the chain's 160 stores.

The discussions between the PPF and Duff & Phelps do not necessarily mean that an outright sale of BHS is now unlikely, but they underline the growing urgency of the situation if thousands of jobs are to be saved.

The chief executive of the PPF - a lifeboat into which BHS's pension schemes are expected to pass even if the chain is sold - told MPs this month that it would cost an additional £275m from its reserves to meet their obligations to pensioners.

Sources said that the PPF was pushing for liquidators to be lined up in order to maximise the potential returns to creditors.

Duff & Phelps is continuing to discuss a potential sale of the entire BHS business with a number of parties, including a mystery consortium led by Portuguese backers.

One source suggested that an entity registered at Companies House in March called Richess Lifestyle was involved in that proposed takeover.

The officers of Richess are listed as Jose Maria Soares Bento and Nicholas de Scossa, who the source said were involved in the BHS plan which also includes a wealthy family called dos Santos (Dusseldorf: STS1.DU - news) .

Other parties interested in buying BHS are reported to include the Matalan founder John Hargreaves and the owner of Poundstretcher.

Insiders believe, however, that liquidators are likely to be formally appointed unless a sale is agreed this week.

A PPF spokesman declined to comment on Tuesday.

The latest developments in the efforts to salvage a future for BHS came just hours after MPs heard evidence from a dozen parties involved in, or affected by, the decision to sell the chain to Retail Acquisitions Limited for £1 last year.

Sir Philip Green, the tycoon who owned the chain for 15 years, was informed prior to the sale that Dominic Chappell, RAL's frontman, had previously been declared bankrupt and had little retail experience, according to a Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) banker who gave informal advice on the deal.

BHS was plunged into crisis last month when administrators were called in after RAL failed to secure new funds needed to keep the chain trading.

Of the witnesses who gave evidence to MPs on Monday, only one - a partner at KPMG, which was advising BHS's pension trustees - raised a formal red flag over RAL's ability to make a success of the deal.