How did Sir Philip Green end up paying £363m towards the BHS pension scheme? Key episodes in the BHS box set
Sir Philip Green finally stumped up some (well, quite a lot of) cash for the BHS pensions black hole yesterday, after a year of publicly fighting with MPs, Goldman Sachs bankers, journalists, and former race car driver and bankrupt Dominic Chappell.
The sorry saga started two years ago, when Green was seeking advice from Goldman Sachs about whether Chappell was the right buyer for the business. They told him about Chappell's background, and said he had no retail experience.
Read more: After BHS: MPs eye stricter transparency rules for private companies
But Green went ahead anyway – here's a short timeline of what happened next:
Key episodes in the BHS box set
Date | What happened? |
MARCH 2015 | Sir Philip Green sells BHS to Retail Acquisitions, a firm owned by serial bankrupt Dominic Chappell, for £1. |
APRIL-MAY 2016 | BHS collapses into administration. Green calls for Frank Field’s resignation after Field says Green should be stripped of his knighthood. |
JUNE 2016 | Administrators say no buyer for BHS has been found. Later that month, Green tells a parliamentary inquiry he will ‘sort’ the BHS pension scheme black hole. |
AUGUST 2016 | The final BHS stores close. Green is chased around Greek islands by cameras and TV reporters. |
OCTOBER 2016 | MPs vote to strip Green of his knighthood. During a two-hour debate, Labour MP David Winnick calls Green a “billionaire spiv”. |
NOVEMBER 2016 | The Pensions Regulator steps up its probe into Green, revealing it will move to the next stage of enforcement powers in a bid to seek redress. |
FEBRUARY 2017 | Green strikes a deal with The Pensions Regulator, agreeing to pay up to £363m to alleviate a black hole left in the BHS scheme. |