Comet collapse: a "nice little earner" for OpCapita.

Unsecured creditors to Comet, primarily landlords, stand to lose more than £200m from the collapse of the electricals chain.

Henry Jackson. OpCapita

Comet stores closing down

An additional 6,600 people today join the statistics of those unemployed in this country following the closure of the final 49 of the original 236 Comet electrical stores. The collapse of Comet is one of the biggest failures in high street outlets since Woolworths closed in 2008. Comet was placed in administration by owners OpCapita earlier this year and Deloitte, was appointed as administrator to Comet in early November. OpCapita purchased Comet in 2011, just 9 months ago, for a price of £2. and at the same time received a £50 million "dowry" as part of the deal. Following the collapse of Comet, the government will be faced with a bill of £50 million to cover redundancy payments for 6,800 staff and unpaid VAT. OpCapita, as one of the top "secured creditors" of Comet, has recovered more money from the collapse than anyone else. A fire-sale in the past two months has recouped £62 million of which £50 million has gone straight into the pocket of OpCapita. Incidentally, OpCapita is a London-based private investment firm, founded by American financier Henry Jackson, which owns or has owned prior to their demise, Comet Group, Game Group, BUT and MFI to name but four. It seems that other creditors of Comet including HM Revenue and Customs, will receive nothing from the sale, while the total losses to un secured creditors will reach some £200 million. OpCapita are indeed fortunate that they are able to recover at least £50 million and have the other debts including the redundancy payments, financed by the taxpayer. There will be many questions arising in respect of the circumstances surrounding this whole matter and so there should be.

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Agenda 2019

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