Overseas suitors(Store Fixture) are circling BHS in a bid to tempt retail tycoon Sir Philip Green into parting with the department store chain, it has been reported. Leading the list of potential bidders is Christo Wiese, who is South Africa's third richest man with an estimated fortune worth £2bn. Others thought to be interested in the struggling UK chain include US private equity firm Apollo and a number of retail turnaround firms, according to the Sunday Times.

Sir Philip, whose empire includes Topshop and Topman, Burton and Dorothy Perkins, bought BHS for £200m in 1999. The chain has been weighed down by expensive leases and a hefty pension fund deficit but with 180 stores(Store Fixture) and annual sales of £700m, it is a force on the high street.

Wiese is believed to have put BHS at the top of his list of potential British retail targets(Store Fixture), having previously owned Leeds-based Brown & Jackson, the home for budget names such as Poundstretcher. He has teamed up with former Asda chief executive Andy Bond.