Upmarket lingerie brand, Agent Provocateur, has been bought by Mike Ashley, through Sports Direct-backed Four Marketing in a pre-pack administration deal, months after the company faced an investigation from KPMG over its accounting practices
The lingerie firm was bought for around £30m from private equity house 3i, who has owned the company since 2007, by Four Holdings, the parent company of Four Marketing. Mike Ashley’s sports company Sports Direct owns a 25% stake in Four Marketing.
Agent Provocateur was sold via a pre-pack deal through administrators, AlixPartners. A pre pack deal means that a buyer is lined up to buy the assets of a company, but not its liabilities, ie, debt and pension deficit. A buyer is lined up for the company’s profitable assets before it enters into administration.
Pre-pack deals are often criticised as it allows directors to lose liabilities and buy back the business under a different company however, pre-pack deals enable a quick sale and can help to secure jobs.
Co-founder of Agent Provocateur and fashion designer Vivienne Westwood’s son, Joe Corré, has slated the deal. He told the Guardian: ‘The pre-pack arrangement between 3i and Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct is a disgrace to British business up there with Sir Philip Green’s shocking behaviour over BHS.’
Corré co-founded Agent Provocateur in 1994 with his wife, Serena Rees. In 2007, 3i bought a £60m controlling stake in the business and Corré soon left in 2009.
In January 2017, KPMG were appointed to investigate accounting irregularities which surfaced after a board reshuffle. It was then that 3i first started talks over a possible sale or potential investment.
