Rumoured GAME rescue package outlined

UPDATE: MCV has tweaked its story following comment from GAME. The retail chain stated that it challenges "many of the claims" made in the original article though didn't specify exactly which ones it was referring to.

ORIGINAL STORY: A rescue package reportedly on the table at ongoing investor discussions surrounding retail chain GAME's future would see the company saved but radically overhauled, with the loss of almost all Gamestation stores and the group's overseas operations.

As detailed by MCV, the deal would see GAME voluntarily enter administration this weekend and remove itself from the stock exchange, but then re-establish itself as a new company on Monday funded by current investors.

Only its UK and Spanish operations would remain. Other outposts would be cut off and told to "fend for themselves", according to MCV's source.

A number of store closures would likely follow and, with the exception of a few high-performing outlets, the Gamestation brand would cease trading.

The plan was apparently submitted to suppliers earlier today in the hope that they will back the move.

"If everyone commits it's great news," said the source.

"A GAME with 300+ stores is what we'll all get, which is basically where they should have been three years ago during the peak. There's no need for two, or even three, stores in the same town or city.

"They get a chance to reduce debt, keep trading and work out a plan for a new owner without so many financial and lease millstones around their necks."

It appears that a deal with Comet owners OpCapita is now dead in the water, with the possibility of a separate 'white knight' investor swooping in before Sunday - when the chain's leases are due - looking increasingly unlikely.