Anglo-French electrical goods retailer¹ Kesa has announced plans to sell off its troubled UK-based Comet stores to a private equity² firm for just £2.

英法电器销售商科萨宣布欲以2英镑的价格将总部位于英国的店铺“彗星”卖给一家私人股权公司。

The buyer is a group of companies under the name "Hailey" advised by retailer turnaround specialists OpCapita.

Kesa said it will itself invest £50m into the new holding company, and will retain（保持） liability for the Comet employees' final salary pension scheme.

Kesa said it would benefit from any subsequent onward³ sale of the chain.

However, it would only do so if the resale price were greater than £70m.

The investment vehicle, under OpCapita's guidance, has also attracted £30m of outside private equity investment and a £40m loan facility.

Responsibility for warranties⁴ and servicing will remain with Comet, but a 73m euro (£62m) fund to support these will be transferred by Kesa to the UK company.

The buyers have promised to keep Comet as a going concern（继续经营企业） for at least 18 months.

Revenues at the loss-making Comet electrical stores fell 22% over the summer, prompting Kesa's chief executive to say that a decision would be made by Christmas about whether to dispose of Comet.

The sale is expected to involve the closure of some of Comet's 250 stores.

The parent company has already confirmed the closure of 17 Comet stores and "right-sizing" of a further nine in the next three years.