The stationary and book shop has 450 sites across the UK including numerous former WH Smith branches across Oxfordshire.

These include stores in Cornmarket, Oxford, and in Witney, Abingdon, Chipping Norton, Didcot, Wantage and Banbury. The takeover came into effect a year ago.

READ MORE: TG Jones confirms stores may close

TG Jones could face insolvency without a rescue deal, according to a High Court hearing held on Monday, and about 150 stores could shut. A decision was expected today.

The company is seeking approval for a restructuring plan that would unlock a further £15m loan from its owners, Modella Capital, who already loaned £10m in April.

If stores close it will leave large empty retail units in towns and cities across the country.

The Toys R Us chain has a section in some TG Jones stores including the one in Oxford.

WH Smith in Cornmarket Street Oxford (Image: Contributed)

Tom Smith KC, representing TG Jones, said: “The business is highly distressed after suffering long-term sales decline.”

He told the court that without support, the company would face an £8m shortfall this week after paying tax, rent, suppliers, and payroll.

He added: “As is well known, the UK retail sector has faced serious trading difficulties in recent years.

“The problems facing the sector have their roots in macroeconomic factors such as high inflation, the shift to online shopping, reduced consumer spending, higher labour costs and increased taxes.”

TG Jones, which employs 4,700 staff across 450 stores, rebranded last year after being acquired by Modella.

WH Smith retained its travel-focused outlets in airports and train stations, including the shop at Oxford railway station.

If the restructuring plan is approved, around 150 shops are expected to close.

Mr Smith added: “That will assist in ensuring the future of the group.”

It has been a difficult year for the UK high street, with several retailers entering administration and others announcing widespread store closures.

Major high street brands LK Bennett and Claire’s both closed all their stores in April, having previously fallen into administration.

And clothing chain River Island shut stores, including one at Westgate Oxford.

River Island previously ran a store in Cornmarket Street, and switched to the Westgate centre in 2017.

Discount brand Poundland has also closed a number of stores across the UK.

Some chains, however, have also opened new stores, including M&S, which has opened a new foodhall in Abingdon. Aldi and Superdrug have also opened new stores.

The 18,000 sq ft store opened at the Fairacres Retail Park off Marcham Road in April.

A new Lidl supermarket has been given planning permission in Didcot but has not yet opened.

KAREN JOY BACUDO

Finance Editor

Lloyds and Legal & General have passed £1.5 billion in participations through their fund finance co-investment partnership, which has been in place since December 2022.

The partnership combines bank-led origination and structuring from Lloyds with institutional capital from Legal & General to provide finance across a range of fund facilities. The latest figure points to continued demand for short-duration funding in private markets.

Fund finance has grown as private market activity has expanded. Fund managers use these facilities to bridge capital calls and manage cash flows between fundraising cycles, giving sponsors access to liquidity at different stages of a fund’s life.

For banks, such arrangements provide a way to originate deals while bringing in outside pools of capital. For institutional investors, they offer access to short-dated assets that can meet demand for lower-duration exposure.

The partnership also supports Legal & General’s broader short-term alternative finance strategy, which stands at £2 billion. The insurer and asset manager said the model gives it access to a pipeline of investments for clients, including insurers, pension schemes and other institutional investors.

Lloyds said it has developed its offering to financial sponsor clients over several years as market demand has changed. The bank described the structure as part of a broader effort to combine its lending origination with institutional backing to provide larger volumes of financing.

The milestone comes as private markets continue to attract capital and financing needs become more varied. Liquidity facilities have taken on a larger role for sponsors seeking to maintain investment activity while managing the timing gap between investor commitments and cash deployment.

A senior Lloyds executive said the result reflected both the scale of the market and the durability of the relationship with Legal & General.

“Surpassing £1.5bn with L&G reflects both the strength of this partnership and the depth of our experience supporting financial sponsor clients with innovative financing solutions. We have worked closely with clients in this market for many years, evolving our financing solutions as their needs change and supporting them by combining our origination capabilities with institutional capital to deliver funding at scale. This partnership is a strong example of our solutions-led approach and our focus on building long-term, sustainable relationships that support clients across market cycles,” said Jill Wilson, Managing Director, Financial Sponsors, Lloyds.

Legal & General said demand from insurers for shorter-duration assets with strong credit quality had helped support the strategy behind the arrangement.

“This milestone underlines the growing importance of partnerships between banks and institutional investors in supporting the evolution of private markets. By working with Lloyds, we are able to access high-quality, short-duration assets for our clients, where we are seeing particularly strong demand from insurers for low-duration investments with robust credit quality. Structures like this are an important part of how we scale our short-term alternative finance strategy while supporting the financing needs of private market sponsors,” said Matthew Taylor, Head of Alternative Debt, Asset Management, L&G.

The transaction volume suggests co-investment structures of this kind are becoming more established in parts of the private credit and fund finance market, where banks and long-term investors are looking for ways to share risk and extend lending capacity.

Legal & General manages £1.2 trillion in total assets, about 43% of which is held internationally. Lloyds remains one of the UK’s largest retail and commercial banks, with a broad customer base spanning consumers, businesses and financial institutions.

Pi Network has launched three products aimed at extending its services beyond its own ecosystem. The releases were announced as part of the group’s Pi2Day update.

The additions are SoloHost, a framework for locally run AI applications and distributed computing; Pi Sign-in, which lets third-party apps and websites use Pi accounts for login; and PiVerify, an identity verification service for external businesses and developers.

Each product is designed to connect Pi’s existing network with outside users and companies. The move expands Pi’s offering from a blockchain-based community platform into infrastructure for computing, authentication, and identity checks.

Local computing

SoloHost is an open framework on Pi Desktop that lets third-party developers build and list applications for local AI use cases. The beta version is now available.

The framework lets users run self-hosted applications on their own computers without setting up servers or Docker environments. Those applications can then be accessed from mobile devices through the SoloHost app in Pi Browser, while data remains on the user’s machine.

The framework includes Hermes, an open-source local AI application that processes tasks directly on the user’s device. The aim is to reduce reliance on cloud infrastructure and keep data local.

SoloHost is also being positioned as a route into distributed computing. Pi plans to introduce a production use case that would allow about 100 Node operators to contribute spare computing resources to complete AI tasks.

That proposal builds on a network of more than 420,000 user-operated Node computers, according to the company. Participating Node operators could be paid by third-party clients in Pi, creating another use for those machines beyond maintaining blockchain infrastructure.

Identity access

Pi Sign-in takes Pi’s account system beyond Pi Browser to third-party websites and desktop applications. The service allows users to sign in with their Pi account rather than create separate login credentials for each service.

For developers, the product is intended to provide access to Pi’s existing user base and verified identity system. It could simplify onboarding and give external platforms a way to authenticate users through Pi.

The sign-in product also links to SoloHost. A user could install an application locally on a desktop machine and then use Pi Sign-in to authenticate another device for remote access to that locally run software.

That means desktop software running through SoloHost can identify the right user and restrict access accordingly. The setup can also support interactions with other parts of Pi’s ecosystem, including wallets.

Verification service

The third release, PiVerify, opens Pi’s identity verification system to outside organisations. The service is aimed at businesses and platforms that need to establish whether users are genuine individuals.

Pi’s verification system has already been used to verify more than 18 million users across more than 200 countries and regions, according to the company. It combines AI and human review in its know-your-customer process.

PiVerify goes beyond document and liveness checks, the company said. It also includes sanction and anti-money laundering screening support, human validator workflows, cross-network comparisons, and support for different regulatory formats.

The service is being pitched to sectors including fintech, Web3, data, and AI. External clients could integrate it into onboarding or payment workflows to reduce fake accounts, duplicate registrations, and Sybil attacks, in which one participant creates multiple identities.

Wider strategy

The releases point to a broader effort by Pi to turn internal tools into services for outside customers. Rather than limiting its products to users already inside its own network, the company is trying to use its existing scale in nodes, user accounts, and identity checks as a commercial proposition for third parties.

That approach places Pi in markets where demand for computing resources, user verification, and account authentication is rising. It also reflects a wider push across the technology sector to build AI-related services closer to end users’ devices, particularly where privacy and infrastructure costs are concerns.

Pi’s identity business is likely to draw particular attention because verification systems with broad international reach are in demand across digital finance and online services. The company claims one of the largest globally distributed verified user bases among crypto-linked platforms.

At the same time, the distributed computing element suggests Pi is seeking additional uses for the network of Node operators built around its blockchain project. If external clients begin paying Node operators for AI-related tasks, that would give Pi a new economic model tied to machine resources rather than solely network participation.

Pi said the latest products are intended to make its services useful both inside and outside its own ecosystem, drawing external developers, businesses, and users into closer contact with its network of verified accounts and user-run machines.