STRUGGLING retailer Debenhams has said it will give any firm takeover offer from Sports Direct 'due consideration' but would continue with emergency funding plans.

Earlier this year it was revealed the company could close 20 of its 166 stores across the UK by the end of the year, putting 1,600 jobs at risk due to its financial difficulties.

It has still not been confirmed which stores are under threat - casting doubt on the future of Oxford's Magdalen Street shop.

Keith Slater, a director of Oxfordshire Town Chambers Network, last month said he was convinced the city's Debenhams would not be one of those facing closure due to having cheaper rates from not having a full ground floor.

READ AGAIN: 20 Debenham stores to go, but will Oxford be one of them?

Oxford Mail:

Sports Direct said yesterday it was considering making an offer to buy Debenhams to save the beleaguered department store chain.

But Debenhams responded given the 'timetable associated with any public offer', a bid from Sports Direct would not address its immediate financing needs.

It confirmed Sports Direct now has until 5pm on April 22 to announce a firm intention to make a bid or walk away, under City takeover rules.

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The group added any proposal from Sports Direct must provide an indication of the offer price, a clear plan of how Debenhams’ existing debt will be repaid and how it would address the immediate funding needs.

Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley, who is Debenhams’ largest shareholder with a 29 per cent stake, has been seeking control of the group and had offered to lend it £150m or buy its Danish subsidiary Magasin du Nord.

Debenhams rebuffed these offers and is pursuing its own refinancing plan.

But on Friday it admitted existing shareholders could be wiped out by the proposals.