Sports Direct's Mike Ashley bids for Brighton entrepreneur Luke Johnson's cafe chain Patisserie Valerie
Mike Ashley's Sports Direct has made a bid for cafe chain Patisserie Valerie, which collapsed into administration last month.
The largest shareholder of the cafe chain is Luke Johnson, whose company owns Brighton Pier.
Administrator KPMG closed 70 Patisserie Valerie outlets, but kept 121 open hoping to find a buyer.
The cafe chain employed about 3,000 staff, but 900 jobs were lost in the initial wave of closures after KPMG was appointed to run the business on 22 January.
Last October, Patisserie Valerie, where entrepreneur Luke Johnson is the biggest shareholder, uncovered "significant, and potentially fraudulent, accounting irregularities".
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