Patisserie Valerie subsidiary sold in £2.5m deal

Administrators to stricken cake chain Patisserie Valerie have sold off Baker & Spice, one of the firm’s sister brands, to the Department of Coffee & Social Affairs for £2.5 million.

The sale of Baker & Spice follows deals for Patisserie Valerie and Philpotts yesterday. Picture: Lauren Hurley/PA Wire

Baker & Spice has five stores in Belgravia, Chelsea, Maida Vale, Oxford and within Selfridges.

The deal was agreed the day after KPMG announced that 96 stores contained within the main Patisserie Valerie business had been sold in management buy-out backed by Irish private equity firm Causeway Capital Partners and, in a separate transaction, food wholesaler AF Blakemore & Son had picked up all 21 stores of the Philpotts subsidiary.

The two brands fetched a combined £13m and the deals safeguarded nearly 2,000 jobs.

Patisserie Valerie, which was chaired by businessman Luke Johnson, was put up for sale last month after collapsing following the discovery of fraudulent activity in its accounts.

KPMG has already closed 70 stores, resulting in 920 redundancies. Sports Direct tycoon Mike Ashley subsequently submitted a bid for the chain, but later withdrew it, complaining that he had been locked out of the process by KPMG