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Reform's Robert Jenrick backs Poundland bidders and calls US owner 'greedy' as 12,000 jobs face the threat of administration

Tesco is in talks to buy up to 150 Poundland stores as Gordon Brothers, the US private equity firm that bought the chain for £1 last year, edges it toward break-up with 12,000 jobs at risk.
Tesco is in talks to buy up to 150 Poundland stores as Gordon Brothers, the US private equity firm that bought the chain for £1 last year, edges it toward break-up with 12,000 jobs at risk.

Poundland founder Steve Smith has warned that 12,000 jobs could be lost for "years" if the chain collapses, as political pressure mounts on US owner Gordon Brothers to accept a buyout offer from Martin Property Group of Northern Ireland. Poundland management is set to meet minister Kate Dearden on Wednesday, with suppliers already holding back deliveries and the administration window closing on 12 November.

Jenrick called Gordon Brothers a "corporate raider outfit" whose bosses had been "greedy" in pushing a viable business towards insolvency.

At least two fully funded offers that would keep Poundland trading have been tabled, but Gordon Brothers is understood to be ignoring both.

Smith, who founded Poundland in Burton upon Trent in 1990, warned: "Once these jobs are lost, they are lost" from Britain's struggling high streets.

MoreThe GuardianPoundland staff could be out of work for years if retailer collapses, founder saysThe TimesPoundland bosses to meet ministers amid calls to avert collapseCity A.M.Jenrick lends support to Poundland suitors
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