Designer store's takeover
Designer clothes store chain Cruise, which has two outlets in Newcastle, has been sold to its finance director and the former chief executive of a rival fashion retailer.
John Heath, who used to head USC, and ex-Cruise finance director Iain Baird have bought the business from founder Jim Gibson for an undisclosed sum.
The duo secured equity backing from private equity business Kcaj LLP. Senior debt was provided by Bank of Scotland Corporate.
Mr Heath's former joint USC chief executive Stephen Craig will also invest in the business and will become a non-executive director.
Cruise was founded more than 20 years ago and has stores in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Harrogate as well as its Tyneside outlets, Cruise and Cruise2.
Mr Heath said: "I have been an admirer of Cruise for many years, and am particularly interested in the market sector that the business is so successful in."
Previous owner and founder, Jim Gibson, will remain with the business in the short term on a consultancy basis.
He said: "Cruise has been an enormous part of my life for the past 20 years and I feel that now it's time to sell the business."
