Clinton Cards PLC, which went into administration in May 2012, has been offered a lifeline after American company, Lakeshore Lending Limited agreed to buy the business. An undisclosed figure has been agreed today between Lakeshore and the administrators, Zolfo Cooper which will save around 4,500 jobs in the UK.
Zolfo Cooper have been in talks with potential buyers ever since Clinton Cards entered administration on 9 May. They closed 44 commercial properties in the last week of May in a bid to give the other remaining stores a better chance of survival. In a statement, Peter Saville, Zolfo Cooper Administrator, stated “We cannot justify continuing to trade certain Birthdays and Clinton Cards stores into June. As a result, there is no alternative option but to close these 44 stores in May.”
However, since then Lakeshore Lending Limited, which is a subsidiary company to American Greetings Corporation, has agreed to purchase the business, which has an annual turnover of approximately £212 million.
Speaking of the sale, Peter Saville, said: “We have always been of the view that despite an intensely competitive retail environment and what proved to be excessively ambitious expansion plans in recent years, there was a strong underlying business contained within Clinton Cards.
“The significant number of credible expressions of interest we received for the business we have sold today, from both trade and financial buyers alike, is testament to this fact.”
It is not yet clear if American Greetings will keep all of the 397 commercial properties open of if the company will continue to trade under the name Clinton Cards, but one thing for sure is that an iconic part of the British high street has today been saved.
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