BHS sale advisers called to produce fee details

MPs responsible for overseeing one of the two inquiries into the BHS fiasco, have called for the two key advisers involved to reveal how much they were paid for their work in the sale.

The Work and Pensions Committee, which is making inquiries into the BHS fiasco* has contacted accountancy firm Grant Thornton and law firm Olswangto disclose details about the fees they charged in respect of their work on the sale of the troubled fashion and homeware chain that retail tycoon PhilipGreen sold to RetailAcquisitions which is controlled by Dominic Chappell, a former racing driver, for £1.

Committee chair Frank Field MP has asked for Mark Byers, partner at Grant Thornton, and Stephen Hermer, general counsel for Olswang, to release details on what due diligence work their firms perform to uncover the source of the money they receive as fees.

A letter saw Field state that Paul Budge, finance director at BHS’s former owners Arcadia, had given evidence to the committee stating that Retail Acquisitions had put £35 million into an escrow account with Olswang.

And Mr Hermer is being asked to clarify what steps his firm took to find out how Retail Acquisitions had raised £35m to put into the fund.

The firm has until 6 June to provide the information.

Last week, both professionals presented evidence to the select committee hearing, during which Byers remarked that BHS needed to be sold by the Arcadia Group in order to give it any chance at survival on the British highstreet.

It was heard that Olswang had become aware of one of Dominic Chappells’s bankruptcies during its due diligence work. Chapell is Retail Acquisition’s largest shareholder.

Previous reports speculated that Grant Thornton pocketed £4.4m for the 13 months’ work it carried out on the sale, while Olswang took home £3.7m.

The Work and Pensions committee, yesterday, wrote letters to the PensionsRegulator, requesting more details of the proposed recovery plan for the BHS pension scheme, and to Alexander and Guy Dellal, inviting them to give evidence on the loans their company Allied Commercial Exports, issued to Retail Acquisitions.

Chappell and Sir Philip Green have also been called to give evidence later on this month.