By James Davey
LONDON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - The insolvency of tycoon Philip
Green's Arcadia fashion group marks a dismal end to a remarkable
career in the retail sector.
Arcadia owns the Topshop, Topman, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis,
Miss Selfridge, Evans, Burton and Outfit brands, trading from
444 leased stores in UK and 22 overseas. It employs about
13,000.
Here is a timeline of Green's ownership of Arcadia:
2002
Green buys Arcadia for 850 million pounds, adding it to the
BHS department store chain he paid 200 million pounds for in
2000.
2004
In a bitter battle, Green tries and fails for a second time
to buy Marks & Spencer.
2005
Arcadia takes on more debt and pays Green's wife Tina, the
group's ultimate owner, a 1.2 billion pound dividend - one of
the biggest payments in British corporate history.
2006
Monaco-based Green is knighted by the Queen for services to
the retail industry.
APRIL 2009
Topshop enters the United States with a first store in New
York.
OCT 2009
Arcadia reports a pretax profit of 214 million pounds for
the 2008-9 year.
AUG 2010
Prime Minister David Cameron commissions Green to report on
cost savings in government.
DEC 2012
Green sells a 25% stake in Topshop and Topman to U.S.
private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners for 350 million
pounds.
MARCH 2015
BHS is sold by Green to a collection of little-known
investors for a nominal sum of one pound.
APRIL 2016
BHS (no longer under Green's ownership) collapses into
administration with a 571 million pounds hole in its pension
fund. Some 11,000 jobs are lost.
JULY 2016
A report by British lawmakers says Green's greed and
disregard for corporate governance led to the demise of BHS. He
is labelled "the unacceptable face of capitalism" and there are
calls for him to be stripped of his knighthood. Green said the
report was "the predetermined and inaccurate output of a biased
and unfair process."
FEB 2017
Green agrees to pay 363 million pounds to the pension
schemes of BHS.
OCT 2018
Green is named in Britain's parliament as having taken legal
action to try to prevent publication of allegations of sexual
harassment and racist behaviour. He denies the allegations.
NOV 2018
Green relinquishes his stake in a gymwear venture he founded
with U.S. pop icon Beyoncé. The singer acquired 100% of the Ivy
Park fitness clothing brand she had launched in 2016 with Green.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
JUNE 2019
Arcadia staves off administration as creditors narrowly
approve Green's sweetened restructuring plan.
The restructuring closes stores, cuts rents and makes
changes to the funding of the group's pension schemes.
SEPT 2019
Arcadia reports an after-tax loss of 169 million pounds for
the 2017-18 year.
NOV 2020
Arcadia enters administration.
(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Carmel Crimmins)
Marks & Spencer (MKS)