Sir Philip Green’s wife Lady Tina Green, 71, is paid £50million by Topshop administrators

Sir Philip Green’s wife has been paid £50million by Topshop administrators after the collapse of her husband’s retail empire last year.

Documents filed at Companies House show Aldsworth Equity Limited, a firm controlled by 71-year-old Lady Tina Green and registered in the British Virgin Islands, received the payout in May.

The money came from an interest-free loan provided by Lady Green to Topshop for its warehouse in Daventry, Northamptonshire, during an emergency restructuring in 2019, reports The Telegraph.

The depot was sold for £83million to real estate developer Prologis in late April and leased to Boohoo after the collapse of Sir Philip’s Arcadia empire last November.

Earlier this year, it came to light that Arcadia fell into administration with a pension deficit of £510million, with pensioners still waiting to recoup what they are owed.

Lady Tina Green, 71 (pictured with her husband Sir Philip, 69, in November 2015), has been paid £50million by Topshop administrators after the collapse of Arcadia Group last year

The money came from an interest-free loan provided by Lady Green (pictured aboard her family’s luxury superyacht) to Topshop for its warehouse in Daventry, Northamptonshire, during an emergency restructuring in 2019

Lady Tina was spotted aboard her family’s £100million luxury superyacht on Saturday, soaking up the sunshine with her son Brandon, 28, in the French Riviera resort of Saint-Tropez.

Tina and Philip, who have been married since 1990, are also the parents of 30-year-old Chloe Green, who shares son Jayden, three, with her ex-partner Jeremy Meeks.

Sir Philip, 69, enjoyed almost two decades of ruling the high street after lucrative takeovers of BHS in 2000 and Arcadia in 2002.

Its success contributed to the businessman getting a knighthood and earning the nickname ‘King of the High Street’.  

But his Arcadia Group went into administration after unsuccessfully seeking a £30million cash injection to help it survive lockdown, which disrupted crucial trading up to Christmas.

The collapse became the biggest corporate failure of the Covid-19 pandemic, with hundreds of millions of pounds owed to creditors and more than 13,000 jobs threatened. Topshop alone had around 300 stores open before the pandemic. 

Lady Tina was spotted aboard her Lionheart, a £100million superyacht, on Saturday, soaking up the sunshine with her son Brandon, 28, in the French Riviera resort of Saint-Tropez

Wearing a pair of red shorts, Brandon relaxed alongside his mother, pictured looking at her phone, during their break in Saint-Tropez on Saturday

The mother and son were seen disembarking from a smaller boat as they made their way onto the yacht in Saint-Tropez on Saturday

ASOS, run by Scotland’s richest man Anders Holch Povlsen, worth £6.1billion, bought the Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT brands from administrators for £265million. They also paid another £65million for current and pre-ordered stock. 

Arcadia, which employed 15,000 people, was in trouble even before the Covid-19 crisis. It recorded an operating loss of £138million on turnover of £1.8billion in 2018.

Back in 2019, Arcadia carried out an insolvency procedure known as a company voluntary arrangement to cut rents and close some shops.

In 2012 Arcadia Group was delisted from the London Stock Exchange when it was bought by Green’s Taveta Investments group for £850million.  

A woman wearing a face mask walks past a closed Topshop branch on Oxford Street, London, during England’s third national lockdown in February this year

Timeline of key events in Sir Philip Green’s career 

Sir Philip Green’s career has spanned massive highs, including a £1.2billion payout in 2005, but has also been marred by a pensions scandal and accusations of sexual harassment.

Here is a timeline of his rise and fall in the world of fashion.

1979: Sir Philip, then just Mr Green, buys up the stock of 10 designer outlets that have failed. He dry-cleans the stock and puts it up for sale again in a shop in Mayfair.

1981 to 1988: The aspiring businessman sets up several businesses, many with his mother Alma. Like the Joan Collins Jeans Company, many fail to get off the ground, and several are liquidated. He also makes several successful deals during this time.

Sir Philip Green pictured speaking during an interview at his Topshop store in Hong Kong in June 2013

1988: Sir Philip is hired as the boss of Amber Day, the listed menswear group. He scores several victories in the role, and Amber Day’s share price rises. But he leaves in 1992 after the company misses on profits.

2000: Sir Philip buys FTSE 100-listed department store BHS for £200 million. He quickly gains plaudits for turning the struggling business around.

2002: Sir Philip buys Arcadia Group, the owner of Topshop, through family business Taveta.

2004: The businessman tries to take over high street giant Marks and Spencer but pulls out after getting very close to sealing a deal.

2005: Arcadia pays out a £1.3 billion dividend, £1.2 billion of which goes to Sir Philip’s wife Tina, who lives in Monaco so does not have to pay UK tax.

2007: Topshop launches a range of clothes designed by supermodel Kate Moss.

Sir Philip Green and Kate Moss attend the opening of a Topshop in New York in 2009

2010: Protesters gather outside Topshop in Oxford Street, alleging the businessman is avoiding income tax.

2015: Sir Philip sells BHS to Dominic Chappell for £1.

2016: BHS goes into administration, leaving a pension deficit of £571 million, and costing 11,000 people their jobs. 

2016: MPs pass a motion to remove Sir Philip’s knighthood over the pensions scandal. He later pays £363 million into the scheme.

2018: The Telegraph reports that staff are accusing an unnamed businessman of sexual harassment and racial abuse. Sir Philip is later identified by an MP as the businessman in question.

2020: Covid-19 hits the high street. Arcadia closes 550 stores and furloughs 14,500 employees.

2021: Asos buys Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT

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