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Wilko: A new offer for the struggling retail company

As efforts to salvage the retail chain continue, a new rescue proposal for Wilko has surfaced.

M2 Capital, a private equity group, has revealed that it has made a £90 million offer for the company and has promised to keep all positions for two years.

One of numerous bids being taken under consideration by administrators is the one made by M2, which was originally published by the Guardian.

Early this month, Wilko entered administration, endangering 12,500 jobs and 400 outlets.

The chain's administrators, PwC, had a deadline of last Friday for bids, and it is believed that they are currently assessing submissions over the weekend.

According to M2 managing director Robert Mantse, the company would "guarantee all employees' jobs for two years" if the firm's rescue proposal was approved.

While acknowledging that "the devil is always in the details," Andy Prendergast, national secretary of the GMB union, stated in response to the news that "any bid that guarantees jobs has to be prioritized."

The owner of HMV, Canadian entrepreneur Doug Putman, was also revealed to be interested in saving some of the Wilko firm last week.

If Mr. Putman's effort is successful, it is unclear how many businesses or jobs would be preserved.

The well-known retailer Wilko, famed for its inexpensive everyday goods, has been dealing with significant losses and a liquidity crunch.

It has also come under fire for losing ground to rivals like B&M, Poundland, The Range, and Home Bargains as people look for deals due to the high cost of living.

As a result of a cash crunch, Wilko had already borrowed £40 million from restructuring expert Hilco, slashed staff, changed its management structure, and sold off a distribution facility.

After Wilko struggled to pay suppliers and at least one credit insurer withdrew trade protection, some businesses had to delay deliveries, and shoppers had also noticed gaps on the shelves.

Lisa Wilkinson, the granddaughter of the company's founder and the retailer's chairwoman up until January of this year, has asserted that "everybody has thrown everything" at trying to preserve the company.

She stated in an interview with the Sunday Times that "the team members, the suppliers, the landlords... everybody has thrown their soul and heart into it."

The company has received criticism in recent years for paying dividends, but Ms. Wilkinson claimed the business would have failed even if it hadn't.

She told the newspaper, "Hindsight is a great bedfellow and I like to think we did everything we should do when we distributed dividends. The board verified that we had profits or reserved profits, that there was enough cash on hand, that we followed the proper governance procedures, and that it had been verified by the auditors.

She continued, "It could have made us survive a couple of months longer if they hadn't paid any dividends. Really, it wouldn't have mattered what we took out.

However, Andy Prendergast of the GMB union asserted that "12,500 workers are facing redundancy - through no fault of their own."

For her remarks, he criticized Ms. Wilkinson, claiming that she failed to "address her workers and face their concerns." When workers don't know how they'll make ends meet in a few weeks, he continued, her comments were "in poor taste".

JK Wilkinson established the company in 1930 by opening his first store in Leicester. Initially expanding throughout the Midlands, it was one of Britain's fastest-growing merchants by the 1990s.

After renaming its own-brand products under the Wilko moniker, Wilkinson started rebranding its outlets as Wilko in 2012.