Beales PLC, the chain of 29 department stores, is to be taken over by English Rose for just £1.2m.
English Rose, which is owned by property entrepreneur Andrew Perloff, returns Beale PLC to private hands. Perloff and his family already control almost 30% of Beales shares and his company Panther is landlord to 10 of its 29 stores.
Founded in Bournemouth in 1881, Beales had been hit by the spending downturn since 2008, the growth of online shopping and the success of able competitors such as John Lewis.