Dragon's Den star Peter Jones buys Jessops brand name

Technology entrepreneur Peter Jones has bought the brand rights to collapsed photography retailer Jessops, it has emerged.

Jones, who is an investor on BBC's Dragon's Den and owns the internet retailer Phones International, is now likely to reopen Jessops as an online-only business, according to the Telegraph.

Administrators Pricewaterhouse Coopers confirmed the purchase in a statement: "We can confirm that we have sold the brand and certain other assets to a number of buyers including entrepreneur Peter Jones."

It is thought that those "other assets" include the unsold stock, remaining when all 187 Jessops stores abruptly shut their doors for good after Christmas.

There is no indication that any of the empty high street locations will be resurrected as part of the deal.

Who bought what?

It is not yet clear whether Jones, who also runs the Expansys online store, has snapped up this stock, or whether it has gone to other buyers. That may be announced by Jones' people as early as tomorrow, reports have claimed

The Telegraph understands that restructuring firm Hilco - the new owner of HMV in the UK - has acquired a slice of the pie from the Jessops sell-off. That remains unconfirmed.

Speculation earlier this month suggested that Hilco was interesting in opening Jessops concessions inside HMV stores.

Via Telegraph