Kleeneze joint venture proposal falls through

A JOINT venture between Kleeneze Holdings, the home shopping company, and Powerstore, the management buyout of London Electricity's stores, has been called off, writes Diane Coyle.

The joint venture company would have run Kleeneze's Leading Edge shops, outlets for the gadgets in its well known Innovations catalogue.

It fell through because Powerstore failed to close in time its 45 inherited London Electricity concessions in department stores, one of the conditions of the agreement.

Kleeneze said it was discussing the outright sale of Leading Edge, which made losses of pounds 1.03m in the year to 31 August, to Powerstore. If this did not take place it would seek another buyer while rationalising the business. The company intends to concentrate on its core home shopping businesses.

Robin Klein, chief executive of Kleeneze, said: 'We have had other expressions of interest in Leading Edge.'

Clive Vlotman, chairman of Powerstore, remained optimistic that a deal could be finalised within a few weeks.