<div id="readability-page-1">  <p><time datetime="2026-05-10T13:47:13+01:00">    Sunday 10 May 2026 1:47 pm  </time></p>         <div>                                                                                                                 Add as a preferred        source on Google                        </div>    <figure>    <div>       </div> <img width="742" height="495" src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://www.cityam.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/whsmithgettyimages-57ed5d321aa97-57ed5d325281e.webp/query-dz03NDI?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://www.cityam.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/whsmithgettyimages-57ed5d321aa97-57ed5d325281e.webp/query-dz03NDI"/>  <figcaption>Up to 150 former WH Smith stores could shut in a drastic restructuring</figcaption> </figure> <p>Retail giant WH Smith made just £10m from the sale of its 480 high street stores to a private equity firm after already slashing its asking price. </p><p>Private equity firm Modella Capital bought WH Smith’s high street locations in a £42m deal last year but is poised to launch an emergency restructuring as the stores – renamed TG Jones – struggle under their new owner. </p><p>WH Smith’s £42m valuation was already a sharp downgrade from the £76m price tag held by the retailer when it first struck a deal with Modella, as the asking price was later slashed to reflect a “sharp deterioration in trading conditions”.</p><p>Modella, which has snapped up a string of struggling high street retailers in recent years, paid only £10m upfront to WH Smith, according to documents circulated to its creditors.</p><p>The remaining £32m was left contingent on TG Jones’ future cash flows, The Sunday Times has reported.</p><p>But TG Jones is now battling to keep collapse at bay, as it enters an “aggressive” restructuring which could see as many as 150 stores close.</p><p>Modella says the survival of the 234-year-old business is at stake, just a year after the Mayfair-based equity firm declared its ambition to position the retailer as the “hub of the high street”.</p><p>The private equity firm had previously delayed the restructuring, which was initially due to be kicked off last month.</p><h2 id="h-modella-in-urgent-plea-to-wh-smith">Modella in urgent plea to WH Smith</h2><p>The rescue plan, advised by consultancy Teneo and law firm Slaughter and May, was dubbed “aggressive stuff” by a City source. </p><p>Modella recently approached WH Smith to ask the retailer to fund redundancy payments for TG Jones staff likely to lose their jobs in the restructuring, The Sunday Times has reported.</p><p>“It had been assumed that, in addition to wanting to assist its previous employees, WH Smith would be open to providing some form of formal support to the business alongside other stakeholders in the context of the restructuring and business turnaround,” a document issued to creditors stated.</p><p>It also emerged last week that Modella is charging TG Jones millions of pounds to use its new name.</p><p>Modella is owed £2.9m in royalty fees for the former WH Smith stores’ use of the fictitious “family” name, The Guardian has revealed.</p><p>The equity firm said the rebranded TG Jones stores are struggling because their loss of the WH Smith title has “negatively impacted consumer awareness, despite the fact that the proposition has improved”.</p><h2 id="h-modella-s-recent-buys-go-under">Modella’s recent buys go under</h2><p>Modella Capital has snapped up a string of high street retailers in recent years, often offloading the acquisitions soon after purchase.</p><p>The Original Factory Shop and Claire’s Accessories shut all of its stores last month, after the two retailers were put into administration less than two years after being bought by Modella.</p><p>Modella was formed as Tailer Debtco in 2022 before being renamed to Modella a year later and is owned by Hay Wain Group and led by retail investor Steve Curtis.</p><p>WH Smith – which retained its stores in airports, hospitals and train stations in the deal with Modella – said last month the travel disruption caused by the Iran war will cause its profit to slump.</p> </div>

SMWH

<p>WH Smith 以 4200 万英镑将 480 家高街店铺出售给 Modella Capital，但由于交易条件不佳，价格大幅下调，WH Smith 仅获得了 1000 万英镑的预付款。Modella 计划重组重新命名的 TG Jones 店铺，可能会关闭 150 个门店。该公司已请求 WH Smith 协助支付受影响员工的裁员补偿。Modella 还向 TG Jones 收取 290 万英镑的使用新名称的特许权使用费，理由是自失去 WH Smith 品牌以来，消费者认知度下降。WH Smith 保留了其机场和医院的店铺，并预计由于外部干扰，利润将下降</p>

WH Smith 通过出售 500 家门店仅获得了 1000 万英镑