Struggling electricals chain Comet has been sold to investment firm OpCapita for just £2. The deal will also see parent company Kesa Electricals pay a £50 million dowry to the new owners.

OpCapita have pledged to operate Comet for at least 18 months and claim that they have "no intention to make redundancies" or to close Comet's 248 stores. Instead they plan to adopt Comet's current cost cutting plans.

Kesa chairman David Newlands said "the £50m is categorised as an investment. We had to pay £50m to get the business away. We will write it off as having no value."

The company will only see a return on this investment if Comet is sold on for more than £70m. OpCapita will buy Comet through a group of companies called "Hailey". Their investors will contribute £30m and the business will have access to a further £40m.

The sale of Comet frees Kesa from its €90m annual lease but means that they will not be allowed to return to the UK electricals market for a short time.