THE chairman of jeweller Goldsmiths has launched a bid to take the company off the stock market in a £43.9 million management buy-out.

Jurek Piasecki is leading a deal to buy the retailer, which has a shop in Blackburn, for 183p a share, representing a premium of 63 per cent above the company's stock market price before possible takeover negotiations were first announced. The move follows a steady decline in the 220-year-old company's share price.

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