Beginnings as Mark One

The company was founded by in the 1980s by Mark Brafman, Les Lucy and Alan Simons as Mark One, and became a discount womenswear retailer. In February 1996 Mark One was bought from administration by billionaire Philip Green

Philip Green

Sir Philip Green is a British businessman. Green was born into a Jewish family in 1952, beginning as a businessman at the age of 15. The first and last quoted company Green took lead of was "Amber Day", from which he stepped down as CEO and Chairman in 1992...

, owner of BHS. Shami Ahmed

Shami Ahmed

Eaitisham "Shami" Ahmed is a Pakistani born British founder of the Joe Bloggs clothing brand.Born in Pakistan, his parents emigrated to England in 1964, when he was aged 2. His father Nizam started a profitable retail clothing business Ahmed Hosiery, in Burnley...

 had also made a failed bid for the company in 1996. In the 2000s, a change to the firm's logo saw the firm's name begin to be commonly spelt as "MK One". In 2003 Green sold most of stake in MK One, whilst keeping 10%, to Elaine McPherson, the managing director, and David Thompson, the finance director.

Sale to Baugur

In November 2004, the 177 store MK One chain was bought by the Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

ic group Baugur for £55 million (this included £11 million worth of debts); in February 2009 Baugur itself entered the equivalent of administration. Les Johnston became chief executive, and Andy Hall became finance director. Johnston and Hall took a 20% stake in the chain, while Baugur, had a 41% shareholding. The banks Landsbanki and Barclays provided debt, taking 36% of Mk One. Avar, a consulting firm, took 3%. McPherson and Thompson left the group. Baugur had planned to expand to chain to around 450 stores. In 2007 the company made losses of £17.4 million.

Sale to Hilco, administration and sale to Brafman

In May 2008, a majority stake in the 170 store company was sold to Hilco, a restructuring specialist. Three weeks later in May, Hilco appointed Deloitte as administrators, to find a buyer for MK One. The company was sold from administration back to Mark Brafman, its founder, via Jet Star Retail. Bali Singh took over as boss when Brafman left in October, and Singh tried to acquire more funds to allow the business to continue. One of the company's suppliers, which had not been paid, started the bankruptcy proceedings. Around 60 of the stores were closed.

Administration and sale to Internacionale Retail

Deloitte continued to act for MK One’s original lenders, but was forced to place MK One into administration with Leonard Curtis

Leonard Curtis

Leonard Curtis is one of the largest independent firms in the UK specialising in corporate recovery, insolvency and business restructuring.It is a national practice with 14 directors and more than 100 staff based at offices in Manchester, Bury, Blackburn, Wolverhampton, Birmingham,...

. On 20 November, the 125 store chain entered administration, putting 1,400 jobs at risk. Leonard Curtis said that there had been a number of expressions of interest for the company.

On 25 November, 80 stores were sold by administrators (Neil Bennett of Leonard Curtis) to Internacionale Retail

Internacionale Retail

Internacionale are a British clothing retailer with 150 stores throughout the United Kingdom, 85 of these stores were acquired from former clothing chain MK One in 2008....

. 45 stores closed, but around 800 jobs saved. The India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n textiles group S Kumars Nationwide purchased Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

-based Internacionale earlier in 2008. The head office in Acton

Acton, London

Acton is a district of west London, England, located in the London Borough of Ealing. It is situated west of Charing Cross.At the time of the 2001 census, Acton, comprising the wards of East Acton, Acton Central, South Acton and Southfield, had a population of 53,689 people...

, west London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, was closed. By May 2009 all Mk One stores that were purchased by Internacionale had been rebranded under that firm's name.