No taker for Mega World

Belgian bankrupt outlet chain Mega World has not found a buyer after all: the bid of the only candidate, a German retailer, turned out not to be sufficient.

“Bid was too low”

On Friday, the candidate buyers had to formally submit their bid. In the end, there was only one bidder: an unnamed German retail chain that had already expressed its interest. “But it still had some preconditions and the price it offered was far too low,” trustee Thierry Lammar told news agency Belga. According to him, the offer was far too low. Moreover, the Germans demanded the certainty that they would be able to take over the rental contracts of all Mega World stores. Something the trustee could not guarantee: “We cannot oblige landlords to rent to a certain tenant, and some rental lots are expiring and have meanwhile been allocated to other companies.”

Mega World started last year after Dutch businessman Dirk Bron took over the Belgian stores of the Blokker chain from Mirage Retail Group. In the end, the stores were open for only a few months. The entrepreneur left behind a mountain of debt of 40 million euros and did not pay VAT, withholding tax and social security contributions all that time. The man is under criminal investigation for fraud. The retailer was declared bankrupt on 21 December.