Terry Green poised to bid for Arcadia fashion brands

Terry Green, the former Bhs and Debenhams chief executive, is keen to strike a deal with the retail entrepreneur Philip Green to buy some of the Arcadia fashion brands.

Terry Green, the former Bhs and Debenhams chief executive, is keen to strike a deal with the retail entrepreneur Philip Green to buy some of the Arcadia fashion brands.

Philip Green has only recently succeeded with his £850m bid to buy Arcadia, the retail group that includes Burton Menswear, Evans and Dorothy Perkins, and has yet to take control.

But it is understood that Terry Green, who is no relation, is already forming plans to acquire some of the fashion brands such as Top Shop and Top Man, which he used to run when he was at the Burton Group.

One retail expert said: "It would be a natural deal for Terry. He knows those brands well and has run some of them before. I think he ran Top Shop twice."

However, it is understood that the two men have not held formal talks on the subject. It is thought that Philip Green is in no hurry to sell and any deal would take place after Christmas.

Terry Green's interest will be a blow to Baugur, the Icelandic retailer which had itself hoped to buy Arcadia's young fashion brands. It was keen to buy Top Shop, Top Man and Miss Selfridge for around £250m until it was rocked by a fraud investigation in Reykjavik.

As a result of this investigation, Philip Green altered the terms of his offer for Arcadia and bought out Baugur's 20 per cent stake in the business. As part of the Arcadia deal he has undertaken to hold a competitive process for the sale of any parts of Arcadia he decides not to keep.

Terry Green left Bhs earlier this year and has been linked with a string of retailers including Mothercare and Brown & Jackson. He has also been linked with a potential bid for Allders, the department store group which issued a profits warning this week.

But a deal to buy some of the Arcadia chains is said to be "top of his thoughts at the moment".

Before joining Bhs as chief executive in 2000, Mr Green was chief executive of Debenhams. Prior to that he spent most of his career at Burton Group, where was chief executive of Debenhams and Top Shop.

Philip Green's 408p-a-share offer for Arcadia was recommended by the fashion group's board earlier this month. He plans to run the Arcadia businesses together with Bhs giving him a powerful position on the UK high street.