LONDON: Troubled British music retailer HMV has been rescued by US restructuring fund Hilco, which said on Friday that it had acquired all 141 of the group's stores.

The deal could save 2,500 jobs at Britain's last surviving national music retail chain which has been plagued by heavy debts and fierce competition from online rivals and supermarkets.

No figure was officially announced, but reports said the deal is worth around #50 million (59 million euros, $76 million).

Hilco took over HMV's Canadian business two years ago and chief executive Paul McGowan said in a statement that “we hope to replicate some of the success we have had in the Canadian market”.

HMV had more than 400 outlets around the world at its peak, but it was hit hard by the rise of online retailers like Amazon and supermarket giants, whose vast scale enabled them to offer CDs and DVDs at cheaper prices.

A series of ill-fated relaunches failed to turn around the HMV chain and it collapsed in January.