Glasgow-based women's fashion chain Internacionale has been bought out of administration by its owners in a pre-pack deal that will save 1,550 jobs in its high street stores.
Administrators EY said the new company, which is called Internacionale UK, will close 18 of the 132 stores across the UK.
Tom Jack, joint administrator for EY, said: 'The business has been significantly loss making over recent years and although the directors have sought to restructure and reposition Internacionale, with significant cash investment from shareholders, it has not proved possible largely because of the high fixed costs of the business.'
He said business would continue as usual and the new owners would honour valid returns, customer gift vouchers and orders where part-payment deposits for goods had been made before the administration.
The new owners are former chief executive Raj Sehgal, managing director Naresh Abrol and former finance director William Milton. All three are expected to run the new company in the same positions. Sehgal, who bought the company out of administration from the previous owners in 2008, took over the running of Internacionale in 2011 to oversee a turnaround.
Meanwhile Deloitte, who are joint administrators to Modelzone, have announced that the toy and hobby chain is set to close with the loss of 355 jobs across 47stores. There have already been a further 11 redundancies within the head office function and the administrators have begun consultations with employees.
Richard Hawes, joint administrator and partner at Deloitte, said: 'Despite our continued efforts, we have been unable to identify a buyer for the retail business. We continue to talk with potential buyers for Amerang Ltd, the wholesale business.'
Modelzone had been generating losses over the last couple of years, caused by a combination of the growth of online competition and the burden of leases for new stores that proved to be loss making. It made an operating loss of £750,000 in 2012 and went into administration shortly after the quarterly rent payment day at the end of June.
Deloitte said there would be a number of closing down promotions across the stores, with closures to come over the coming weeks. Gift vouchers will be honoured, but only for 50% of face value.
