Habitat's Swedish owner ICAF has disposed of the loss-making house and homewares retailer after agreeing to inject £45m into the company. The deal sees restructuring specialist Hilco take control of the 71-store chain.
It is now thought that the new owners will embark on a comprehensive cost-cutting programme including up to 50 redundancies at its head office, in an attempt to return the retailer to profit. However, no shops are currently expected to close.

Habitat has failed to make a profit since its 2004/05 financial year.