Comet Group

About Comet Group

Comet, the second largest electronics retailer in the UK, collapsed in November 2012. OpCapita, a private equity firm, had acquired Comet for 2 in February 2012. OpCapita had extracted approximately 50 million in management fees. The company had 7,000 employees and 236 stores. Comet had been losing market share to Amazon and supermarkets. The collapse triggered a 50 million government redundancy payment bill. Administrator Deloitte closed all stores by December 2012. The collapse happened just weeks after the sale, raising questions about whether OpCapita always intended to liquidate. The case became an example of predatory private equity practices. Suppliers lost approximately 250 million. Some stores were acquired by Maplin, which itself collapsed in 2018.