By Sophie Lindqvist

Xyra Group has offered £12.5m up front for Poundland, making it the frontrunner to buy the discount retailer out of the shadow of administration — despite having never completed a transaction in its history. Roughly 12,000 jobs and 600 stores depend on the outcome, and the clock is short: the legal moratorium (a temporary shield preventing creditors from calling in debts) protecting Poundland lapses on Thursday.

The bid puts Xyra ahead of Martin Property Group, whose earlier offer was refused by Gordon Brothers, Poundland's Boston-based owner. But money talks loudest here, and Xyra's ability to actually pay remains the unanswered question at the centre of the deal.

The London-based firm is led by two men in their twenties. Manvedeep Singh, the 23-year-old founder, has been listed as a director of several health and care home companies — each of which folded shortly after being established. Before entering the City, he worked as a builder and served as a non-executive director of MJ Design and Building, a family-run housebuilder, between 2017 and 2025. He remains a director of Kingdoms of Care, a care home owner, and The Cyberology, a cybersecurity firm whose board includes Sir Robert Buckland, a former Lord Chancellor and justice secretary, and Tory peer Baroness Sandip Verma.

Chief executive Viktor Bronzovic is a 27-year-old Croatian former DJ who began his business career selling wooden jewellery on Facebook and Etsy. During the Covid-19 lockdown, he set up multiple companies manufacturing elastic bands and mask-making materials, which he claims generated six-figure revenues. The claim is his own; no independent verification has been published.

What does the offer actually rest on?

When Xyra emerged as a bidder last week, the firm was told it would need to provide more detail on its finances and its ability to keep the retailer afloat before its offer would be taken seriously. Since then, the group has made "significant progress" towards demonstrating "credible" financial backing for the £12.5m offer, sources told City AM. Significant progress, notably, is not the same as completed proof — and no backer has been named publicly.

Xyra has compensated for its thin record by signing up established City figures. Since mid-October it has added three people to its senior leadership team and appointed Michael Mainelli as the sole member of its advisory committee. Mainelli, an economist and accountant, is the 695th Lord Mayor of the City of London — a former one, that is — and chairs the think tank Z/Yen, which he founded.

The pivotal hire, however, is Andrew Brode, Xyra's newly appointed vice chairman. Brode orchestrated the stock market float of tech firm AWS and chairs Learning Technologies Group, which private equity firm General Atlantic bought for £802m last year. One source compared his role to that of former Poundland boss Andy Bond in the rival Martin Property Group bid. "He's the person who lends them credibility," the person said.

Credibility by association is doing heavy lifting in that sentence. Neither Brode's nor Mainelli's financial commitment to the bid has been disclosed.

What does this change for Poundland?

Steve Smith, who founded Poundland in 1990 and has pressed Gordon Brothers to find a buyer, offered a measured endorsement. Xyra Group "seems to have some good people behind them," he said, while conceding the firm has little experience. His bottom line was blunter: "The important thing here is for someone to come up with the money."

Gordon Brothers is racing to secure a new home for one of Britain's biggest high street presences before Thursday's deadline. A sale could complete within days; equally, a failed proof of funds could push the retailer into formal administration, with the 600-store estate and 12,000 jobs in scope for cuts.

Singh, Bronzovic and Xyra Group were contacted for comment. Gordon Brothers declined to comment.