Billionaire Philip Green tries to ditch stores before Arcadia restructure

Philip Green is trying to quietly vacate one in 10 of his high-street stores before launching a controversial restructuring of his Arcadia fashion empire.

The embattled billionaire is working on a plan that will enable his retail group, which includes Topshop and Dorothy Perkins, to close its worst-performing outlets and slash rent costs.

On Thursday, it emerged that a list of 67 of the more desirable stores within Arcadia’s 570-strong network is currently being shared in property circles to see if rival chains can be persuaded to take over the leases.

Included in the document, seen by the Financial Times, were branches of Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge in well-known shopping centres, such as the MetroCentre in Gateshead, as well as on provincial high streets.

The list is understood to contain stores in good locations that have been flagged to potential new occupiers. The total number of stores being reviewed by Arcadia is likely to be larger.

The Guardian has learned that accountants working for Arcadia have held talks with major retail property landlords in recent days to ask for substantial rent cuts and store closures.