Karen Millen, the upmarket fashion chain launched in Kent, is among several prominent high street names in the Mosaic Fashions group saved by bosses and an Icelandic bank.

Warehouse, Oasis, Coast, Anoushka G and Karen Millen have been sold to Aurora Fashions, a new company owned by Kaupthing bank - nationalised last year by the Icelandic government - and former management of Mosaic. The deal secures 8,700 jobs across the UK, as well as 647 concessions and 268 stores, including several in Kent and Medway.

Most of the group has been bought out of administration following the financial problems of Icelandic company Baugur. The Principles fashion chain and The Shoe Studio/Collection are not part of the deal. Kent designer Karen Millen sold the chain that bears her name to Baugur five years ago for £120m...

Deloitte, the business advisory firm, was appointed administrator to Mosaic Fashions and immediately sold it to Aurora Fashions in a so-called pre-pack administration deal in which a prevous owner buys a business out of administration..

Phil Bowers, joint administrator, said: "This sale secures the future of these brands and provides funding going forward. The restructuring means 8,700 jobs in these businesses have been rescued by Aurora Fashions, who will continue to trade in 647 concessions and 268 stores across the UK."

Administrators have not yet found a buyer for Principles fashion chain and The Shoe Studio Group, including the Shoe Collection, previously owned by Mosaic, saying they were in discussions with various parties interested in purchasing the assets.

Principles employs more than 2,300 staff and trades from over 400 outlets of which 94 are single stores and the remainder concession outlets.

Nine are in Kent and Medway, several of them in Debenhams - Canterbury, Ashford, Folkestone and Broadstairs. Others are in Hempstead Valley, Gillingham, Ashford Designer Outlet, Canterbury Fenwicks, Fremlin Walk Maidstone, and Sittingbourne CWS..

The Shoe Studio and the Shoe Collection employ 1,870 staff and trades from 13 single stores and 270 concessions.

It has eight outlets in Kent and Medway, mainly in Debenhams department stores - Canterbury, Ashford, Folkestone, Broadstairs, Chatham and Gravesend. Other stores are in House of Fraser Maidstone and Fenwicks Canterbury.