HMV stores to be sold to private equity co

Private equity firm Hilco Consumer Capital agreed on Friday to buy more than 140 stores of the British music retailer HMV as part of a rescue deal after the company went into bankruptcy earlier this year.

Hilco, which acquired HMV’s Canadian operations in 2011 for $3.3 million, will buy the music stores across the country for around £50 million, or $76 million, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

Hilco had been the frontrunner to snap up HMV and its well-known trademark of a dog next to a gramophone after it bought the debt of the struggling British music retail chain in January. HMV had outstanding debt of $280 million in October, but had struggled from reduced spending by British consumers who are facing a downturn in the local economy.