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VIEW ALLJonathan Polin, PartnerHoward Kennedy has been at the heart of high street advisory for many years and is well placed to step in and advise on complex situations such as that facing HMV. The recent struggles on the high street have been well reported, and we are pleased to have been able to assist on a transaction with a positive outcome not only for a business with such a heritage as HMV but also the massive saving of jobs.
Law firm Howard Kennedy is pleased to have advised KPMG throughout its work on HMV’s administration.
HMV Retail Limited (in administration) and HMV Ecommerce Limited(in administration), the operators of 127 music retailers across the UK employing around 2,000 staff, went into administration at the end of last year.
Howard Kennedy was called in to act for KPMG, the administrators of HMV, to assist in the administration process which culminated, on Tuesday 5 February, in a successful sale of the business to Sunrise Records & Entertainment and the continued trading of 100 of the chain’s stores. Sunrise Records, controlled by Doug Putman the owner of Sunrise Records Group in Canada (formerly the HMV stores in Canada), further announced that 1,487 jobs would be saved in the deal.
The Howard Kennedy team advising KPMG was led by Jonathan Polin, Partner.
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Jonathan Polin, PartnerThe window in which to deliver such an outcome for HMV and its staff was a small one, meaning time was of the essence. The Howard Kennedy team’s ability to handle not only multiple supplier negotiations but also multiple bids along with turning transaction documents and key contracts around in an expedited timetable was paramount to delivering this positive result for our client.