A WINCHESTER department store is set to be taken over as part of a deal which values the historic business at just £1.2million.

English Rose, a company owned by property entrepreneur and UKIP donor Andrew Perloff, has put in the bid for the chain Beales – the flapship store of which is based in Bournemouth.

The company’s board has agreed the offer despite describing it as ‘disappointing’ and said it could have achieved a better price under other circumstances.

English Rose’s move would return Beale PLC to private hands though it is not yet known when the takeover will be completed.

According to the details of the bid, once completed the firm hopes to have a “strategic review of all stores”.

At the time of going to press, chief executive officer Michael Hitchcock said he didn’t have any specific information about the Winchester store but the terms of the bid means it could be several weeks until the takeover is completed.

“The process if that from the date of the announcement yesterday (Jan 19) the bidder has 28 days to issue the documentation,” he said. “Once the shareholders receive it they have 28 days to cast their vote. It could be in the next few days, it could be in several weeks.”

Mr Perloff and his family already control almost 30 per cent of Beales shares and his company Panther is landlord to 10 of its 29 stores.

Beales chairman William Tuffy said: “English Rose’s proposal offers the certainty of a cash exit for shareholders today and improves the medium term financial security of the Beales business. Despite the significant progress made by the current management team in first stabilising and then greatly improving operating performance, the business continues to face significant challenges and financial constraints.

“As a result, Beales may be unable to generate sufficient cash flows to meet its financial commitments in the future,” he said.

English Rose is offering 6p a share – around 48 per cent less than last Friday’s closing price of 11.5p.

He said the board had “explored all other realistic alternatives” to raise more capital but any of them could be vetoed by Mr Perloff’s shareholding.