Woolies buyer update imminent
Woolworths' fate to be updated by Deloitte administrators by the end of the week
Deloitte
administrators are hoping to update shareholders on the fate of Woolworths by
the end of this week.
A source close to the administration of the department store said Neville
Kahn, Dan Butters and Nick Dargan expected to have a clearer picture of
potential buyers for the once mighty store.
A number of parties, including Asda and Tesco, are believed to have thrown
their hat into the ring as well as other financial and trade buyers vying for a
slice of the retail and wholesale businesses.
Other supermarkets didn’t rule out making a bid for some of the stores. A
Waitrose
spokeswoman said there were ‘absolutely no plans to do so at this stage,’ but
added that Waitrose was ‘always looking around into lines of opportunity.’
Woolworths was forced to call in the administrators because it could not
continue as a going concern after failing to find a buyer on the open market for
the company.
The Deloitte trio are now leading a team of about 100 staff in efforts to try
and secure the futures of more than 25,000 staff.