• BHS sells Oxford Street lease to Oxford & City Holdings
  • Polish fashion giant LPP has signed a pre-let agreement
  • Its Reserved fascia will take around 30,000 sq ft of the property
  • Ikea locked in negotiations to take the remainder of the store

 

BHS has sold the lease on its Oxford Street flagship as Polish giant Lubianiec Piechocki i Partnerzy (LPP) prepares to move into the unit.

Oxford & City Holdings has acquired the leasehold of the property for a fee understood to be in the region of £55m.

As previously revealed by Retail Week, LPP, which operates 1,574 shops in 17 markets, has signed “a preliminary lease of retail space” to bring its Reserved fashion fascia to the UK.

Retail Week has learned that LPP will take around 30,000 sq ft at the front of the building.

Sources close to the situation told Retail Week that another retailer, understood to be Swedish furniture giant Ikea, remains locked in negotiations with Oxford & City Holdings to take on the remainder of the store.

BHS declined to comment.

The deal comes a week after 95% of BHS’s creditors voted in favour of a company voluntary arrangement, which will see the embattled department store group pay a reduced rent of 75% or 50% on 47 stores and 25% rent on 40 of its stores.

BHS had more than 40 years remaining on the lease of its Oxford Street store and property agency Cushman & Wakefield was drafted in to explore a sale of the lease back in November last year.

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