UK billionaire settles on pensions in retailer's collapse

LONDON (AP) - British billionaire Philip Green has paid some 363 million pounds ($451 million) to settle pension claims with collapsed retailer BHS.

The out-of-court settlement comes after the department store went out of business last year, throwing thousands without work and leaving a gaping hole in the employee pension plan.

Green, who had owned the chain for 15 years, sold BHS for one pound before its collapse to Dominic Chappell, who was accused in a series of extraordinary parliamentary hearings of running the firm into the ground. A parliamentary inquiry followed, and there were calls for the tycoon to be stripped of his knighthood.

Green apologized to pensioners and says he hopes "this solution puts their minds at rest and closes this sorry chapter for them."