MUMBAI: US restructuring firm Hilco have saved British entertainment retailer company HMV by completing the acquisition deal. This will save the HMV brand, 141 stores and about 2,500 jobs. All 9 Fopp stores which HMV owned were also included in the purchase.Media reports have valued the deal at around ?50m.
The report of the collapse surfaced after an official statement released by the company stated, “On 13 December 2012, [HMV] announced that as a result of current market trading conditions, the company faced material uncertainties and that it was probable that the group would not comply with its banking covenants at the end of January 2013.”
Paul McGowan, the UK chief executive of Hilco, will become the chairman of HMV.
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It is Britain’s last surviving national music retail chain. Two years ago, Hilco took over HMV Canada.Independently of the UK operations, stores in Singapore and Hong Kong trade are under the HMV brand, and are owned by the private equity firm Aid Partners.
Online retailers like Amazon and supermarket giants, who valued CDs and DVDs at cheaper prices, had hit HMV. There was a time when HMV had more than 400 outlets around the world. 92-year-old firm had also launched its online store to move with new digital trend but that also did not receive a positive response.
HMV’s first store was opened in London’s Oxford Street by English composer Edward Elgar in 1921.
In its last full-year results for the year to 28 April 2012, it had sales of ?923m but posted a pretax loss of ?16.2m.
