Carphone Presses On With Phones 4U Repair Job
Updated: 11:01pm UK, Monday 22 September 2014
By Mark Kleinman, City Editor
The owner of Carphone Warehouse is to press ahead on Tuesday with an attempt to salvage hundreds of jobs at Phones 4U despite administrators' move to axe more than 360 stores.
Sky News has learnt that Dixons Carphone plans to make a statement on Tuesday that it remains interested in acquiring between 50 and 100 shops from the ailing mobile phone retailer's estate.
Dixons Carphone is finalising a list of the stores which it is interested in acquiring, and intends to negotiate directly with the properties' landlords once they have been closed down.
It will also invite Phones 4U staff from the corresponding shops to apply directly to it for jobs if it is successful in taking them over.
Sources close to the administrator said that Dixons Carphone had made a cash offer on Monday to buy 27 Phones 4U shops on commercial terms understood to be similar to those secured by EE and Vodafone in transactions which will keep open almost 200 stores.
However, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which is handling the chain's administration, is said to have decided not to pursue Dixons Carphone's proposal.
In a statement, PwC said there was "limited interest in the balance of the estate from parties considering going concern offers. This comprises 362 stores. Regretfully, as a result, the administrators announce that those stores will close permanently and 1697 staff employed at these locations will be made redundant."
Dixons Carphone's intention to pursue negotiations directly with landlords could offer a glimmer of hope to hundreds of Phones 4U employees, although one insider suggested its interest was llikely to be in closer to 50 than 100 stores.
Well over 1500 Phones 4U staff are already thought to have applied for roles at Carphone Warehouse outlets.
Phones 4U was forced into administration last week when EE notified the company that it was terminating a distribution agreement which expires next year.
That decision left the chain without a network partner following Vodafone's withdrawal, sparking a public dispute between Phones 4U's owner – the private equity group BC Partners – and the network operators.
Sky News revealed last week that Vodafone and EE had held talks in recent months about a joint takeover of Phones 4U but that the negotiations had stalled over competition issues.
The networks have denied attempting to profiteer from the retailer's collapse, despite accusations from John Caudwell, Phones 4U's founder, that they had behaved "ruthlessly".
Documents seen by Sky News show that on July 8, while discussions were taking place about extending Vodafone's distribution contract with Phones 4u, the mobile network's UK executives made a presentation to group colleagues entitled "Phones 4u - Partner of Choice".
Several weeks later, Vodafone notified Phones 4u that it would not be renewing their agreement, while no further talks about a takeover of the company were held.
Dixons Carphone declined to comment on Monday night.
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