HMV Group is buying up to six Fopp stores and the collapsed music chain's brand name, leaving 75 other sites up for grabs.

HMV has acquired Fopp shops in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester, Nottingham and Cambridge and is hoping to buy an outlet in London's Covent Garden following negotiations with the site's landlord, after the music retailer called in the receivers last month.

HMV is rescuing 70 jobs as part of the deal with the stores expected to reopen in the next two weeks. It is uncertain whether Ernst & Young, Fopp's reciever, has found buyers for the remaining 75 stores after a last minute intervention by Virgin Megastore failed to save the company just before it closed in June.

A spokeswoman for Ernst & Young said it was still marketing the remaining shops, including Fopp's flag-ship store on London's Tottenham Court Road, but said the outlets will not be sold as a going concern.

HMV is refusing to disclose how much it has paid for the outlets in a transaction that also includes the use of the company's name and web site address.

HMV said today that all six Fopp stores were profitable, and that they will continue to operate independently. HMV added:"Fopp is well regarded by many music and entertainment consumers, enjoying strong local awareness and appeal, and we're pleased that we will be able to preserve the brand and product offer through the stores and online.

The deal has been secured on the same day that HMV sold its Japanese business owned by two of the country's largest financial institutions for £70 million as part of the struggling music retailer's wide-ranging restructuring programme.

The company has offloaded its 62 stores in Japan 17 years after setting up its first shop in the country in 1990.

DSM Investments will pay around nine times Ebitda for the business. DSM is a business set up by Daiwa Securities SMBC Principal Investments, which is owned by Daiwa Securities SMBC, a joint venture controlled by Daiwa Securities and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group.

HMV announced its plan to get rid of its Japanese business when it unveiled its restructuring plan in June. At the same time it revealed that pre-tax profits fell from £80.2 million to £21.6 million and net debt swelled from £15.6 million to £130.6 million.

The company is attempting to turnn around its fortunes, which have been battered by online competition, by increasing online sales, introducing new store formats and cutting costs by £40m a year by 2010.

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