Is Green’s deal with his creditors the beginning of another scandal?

There’s a palpable urge elsewhere in the media to see Sir Philip Green come to grief, whether as a result of allegations, denied by him, that he ‘spanked and groped a Pilates trainer’ in Tucson, Arizona, or through the collapse of his Arcadia retail empire, which includes Topshop and Burton, even if that were to involve thousands of job losses and hundreds of empty shops. So there were mixed reactions to the news that Arcadia has succeeded, after months of hardball negotiation, in signing a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) with a required majority of its creditors, including its major commercial landlords, that will cut its cost base by securing rent cuts on 200 stores and enabling it to close 23 others. As part of the deal, Green’s Monaco-resident wife Tina will inject £50 million, so long as there’s no legal challenge to the CVA, and landlords will receive a 20 per cent equity interest in any sale of the group.