Habitat brand bought by Home Retail as UK arm goes into administration
Homebase owner Home Retail Group has confirmed that it has bought the UK rights to the Habitat brand and three key London branches and its website for £24.5 million.
The 30 remaining Habitat stores outside of London have been put in administration. The stores are expected to trade as normal while the administrator, Fraser Gray of Zolfo Cooper, talks to any potential buyers. However, the BBC has reported that HRG will offer jobs to many of the 900 Habitat staff affected.
Hilco, the owner of Habitat, has been trying to turn the company around for the last 18 months since it acquired the business from the Ikano Group, which is owned by Ikea's Kamprad family. Hilco bought the company for just €3 in return for taking on €100 million worth of debt.
Habitat said that Hilco was in advanced talks with another party regarding the sale of its profitable international operation. This includes 27 Habitat stores in France, six in Spain and five in Germany.
