UK pension lifeboat reportedly wants second BHS administrator

The pensions lifeboat is to demand that a second administrator is appointed to BHS amid accusations of a close relationship between current administrator Duff & Phelps and the retailer’s former owner Sir Philip Green, the Guardian reported without citing sources.

The Pension Protection Fund (PPF), an industry-backed body that acts as a safety net for the pensions of insolvent companies and is BHS’s biggest creditor, is to call for the appointment of FRP Advisory at a creditors’ meeting on Thursday, the report said.

BHS collapsed into administration in April, with liquidation following earlier this month after failing to find a credible buyer, putting 11,000 jobs at risk and leaving a £571m pension deficit.

The Guardian said it understood that the PPF has wanted other advisers to be appointed alongside Duff & Phelps for several weeks, although it would not comment on the source of its concern.

The new administrator would have a role in investigating the conduct of BHS’s former directors, including under Green, who controlled the company for 15 years before selling it for £1 last year to Dominic Chappell, a former bankrupt.

In a report published this month and seen by the Guardian, Duff & Phelps said it had uncovered a number of financial transactions within BHS Ltd, the main trading company, that required further investigation. It said: “Additional information is required to understand the true nature of the transactions.”

The likely appointment of a second administrator comes amid close scrutiny of the demise of the company, including two inquiries by Mps.

On Tuesday it emerged that MPs had asked Green’s wife, Tina, to explain the “very opaque web” of family companies behind the couple’s retail empire.

Digital Look was waiting for a reply from Duff & Phelps at the time of publication.