Beleaguered British retailer Woolworths finally finds a buyer

Iconic British retail chain Woolworths, which closed down last month after failing to find a buyer, has finally found one. Frozen food retailer Iceland has bought 51 former Woolworths stores, and said it plans to create 2,500 new jobs. Around three quarters of the 51 Woolies stores that Iceland has bought are in the south of England, including 10 in London.

Iceland marketing director Nick Canning said, "We are confident we can help to support the local community in these towns who have lost a major high street retailer in Woolworths. We look forward to developing our business in 2009 by continuing to offer our customers fantastic value everyday across our range of frozen, grocery and chilled products."

Iceland first made an offer to buy all of Woolworths' 815 stores last August for an unconfirmed sum, but Woolworths rejected the bid calling it "unacceptable".

Woolworths went into administration in November, but was unable to find a buyer to take on the company.

Administration is a similar to bankruptcy. Administrators are appointed to salvage as much of the company as possible for the benefit of its creditors, a process that can involve trying to keep the business as a going concern or breaking it up and selling it off. (See: British retailer Woolworths starts closing-down sale after failing to find a buyer)

Iceland Foods, which was founded in 1970 and bought by a consortium led by Icelandic investment group Baugur in 2005, did not immediately say whether it intended to re-brand the stores. It currently has 682 Iceland outlets across Britain.