Former BHS owner Dominic Chappell (right) revealed more about its complicated property dealings at a hearing of the Work and Pensions Committee this week.
He told MPs his company Retail Acquisitions had profited from the sale of BHS property in Sunderland, and Oxford Street, London, for carrying out the sales. He later cast the deciding vote for Retail Acquisitions to lend £1.5m to a property company connected to his father. Chappell said the BHS rescue plan aimed to raise £60m-80m through property sales but few were realised, though £4m a year in rent was saved by selling BHS’s HQ at 129-137 Marylebone Road, NW1, and neighbouring office North West House.
He admitted an article in the Sunday Times was the first time he knew it was Sir Philip Green’s stepson, Brett Palos, who had bought the Ealing store for £6.9m days before BHS was sold. Palos then sold it for a reported £10m three months later.
Chappell said Green, who is set to give evidence to the select committee on 15 June, had told him: “That’s showbiz.”
