Haldanes and Co-op Group in clash over stores sale deal

Last night Arthur Harris, the Scarborough-born retail entrepreneur, claimed his companies Haldanes Stores and Ruston Retail had suffered a “significant” loss because the Co-op broke agreements made between the two companies, as well as with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).

The mutual group denied all of the allegations however and said it had acted in good faith in its dealings with Haldanes.

It accused the Lincolnshire group of failing to pay rents and said it was trying to regain possession of the stores.

The extraordinary row relates to the sale of 26 Co-op branches to Haldanes in late 2009 and early last year. The OFT forced the Co-op to offload 133 stores after taking over Somerfield.

A furious Mr Harris yesterday said Haldanes and Ruston had issued High Court proceedings against the Co-op over the “material breach” of the agreements made at the time of the deal.

He alleges the Co-op has harmed consumers and refused to hold a meeting to resolve the dispute. He also said the jobs of 600 former Co-op employees are “at stake”.

The Co-op said, however, it had opened legal proceedings against Haldanes last month and claimed it was owed rental income. The group also denied improper behaviour and said it would “vigorously” contest a legal claim against it, although none had yet been received.

“The original transaction was subject to full due diligence on the part of Haldanes and its advisers.

“The Co-operative Group has complied with all our competition undertakings and, at the same time, has been pleased to support the Haldanes business financially through its start-up phase.”