New Bay Trading owner to focus on concessions

The Loomba family, which is behind brands Tigi-Wear, Viz-A-Viz and iZ, acquired the business from administrator Deloitte for an undisclosed sum this week, as revealed on RW Online (May 18).

Rinku Loomba – managing director of supplier Rinku Group – created new company Bay Design to buy the business. He said Bay Design would “refocus” Bay Trading, creating synergies and a streamlined supplier base.

Bay Design acquired 85 Bay Trading concessions and 45 standalone stores. The deal saved 566 of 1,800 staff from redundancy. Employees at the Hatfield head office were made redundant last week.

Loomba said that he was “very committed” to Bay Trading’s concession partners, which include Mackays, House of Fraser and a number of independent stores.

“We are not a high street retailer,” said Loomba. “We will retain some stores to give Bay some scale. Rinku Group is well known for its sourcing capabilities and it will bring those to Bay.”

Bay Trading hit the buffers in April after parent company Alexon reported a £7.2m full-year loss before exceptionals. Credit insurance to its suppliers was withdrawn.

Loomba added that he will begin talks with credit insurers in the next few weeks and is “confident” of resolving the situation.