Matalan founder and chairman John Hargreaves has unveiled a 200p a share bid for the discount clothing chain, valuing it at £817 million. His family already holds 53.5%.

The bid for Matalan (MTN) has been recommended by the independent members of the board led by Geoff Brady. He said he was not aware of any other bid approaches, although he pointed out that Hargreaves himself might have been approached.

Hargreaves was not available for comment, but it's well know that he has always vigorously ruled out a sale of the business. Given his majority stake, this was always a one-horse race.

Matalan has been hammered in recent years by new entrants to the cheap clothing market and the continued success of the likes of Tesco. Recent trading is no exception, with sales on a like-for-like business off 3.9% in the six weeks to October 7.

Announcing the sales figures, Brady fell back on retailers’ catch-all excuse - the weather. Yet others, such as Next and French Connection, have seen buoyant trading.

Alastair McGeorge, former chief executive of Littlewoods, will become chief executive this winter following the delisting, replacing departing chief John King who resigned earlier in the year.

The announcement says that the new management under Hargreaves have ‘well developed plans for Matalan’s business’ and says that ‘private ownership will provide the flexibility to realise the potential for appropriate improvements’. A spokesman indicated that store closures were unlikely.

Shareholders have seen their shares crash from a high of 777p in 1999 to 153p before Hargreaves announced his interest in July. Since then there has been a long delay whilst he found the money. This deal is financed by Icelandic bank Kaupthing, who are lending the family £408 million.