The Woolworths brand could be sold within a week as potential buyers including Theo Paphitis, the entrepreneur and TV game show judge, line up possible bids for the failed variety retailer. Neville Kahn, the Deloitte partner who is leading the administration process, said Sunday that he would meet interested parties on Monday and expected to have a preferred bidder for the retailer’s brand and a large number of stores by the end of the week. The publicity surrounding the collapse of Woolworths, which fell into administration last week, putting 30,000 jobs at risk, appears to have encouraged shoppers into its stores, with like-for-like sales up 20% on the day after Deloitte was appointed administrator. Paphitis, who owns the Ryman stationery chain, is known to have expressed interest, as has Endless, the Leeds-based turnround investor, while other private equity groups likely to consider a bid include Cerberus, Sun European Capital and Alchemy Partners.
