As widely reported, the sale of Agent Provocateur by 3i to Four Marketing in a pre-pack deal caused raised eyebrows and sparked a torrent of abuse from Joe Corre who had originally founded the business, selling a majority stake in it to 3i back in 2007. Corre, the son of Dame Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, had not had any involvement with Agent Provocateur since 2009 yet accused 3i of running the business into the ground.
It is on record that the lingerie business had struggled through several difficult trading periods and was causing 3i deep concern. Then late in 2016, the discovery of a significant accounting error saw Agent Provocateur lose £39 million of its stated “book” value. The business attracted interest from various parties but Sports Direct backed Four Marketing closed the deal for around £30 million.
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