HIGH Street giant House of Fraser is the latest in a growing number of retail giants to announce that they will launch a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) in June. A CVA is designed to help a struggling company to pay back a proportion of its debts over time.
House of Fraser confirmed that Chinese retailer C.banner is taking a 51% stake in the firm, shifting control from previous Chinese owner Nanjing Cenbest.
House of Fraser’s CVA is subject to creditor approval and the store restructuring is expected to conclude in early 2019.
The company claims that the latest developments for the business would help secure its long-term future and that C.banner’s investment was a “vote of confidence”.
As with many of the other retailers who have opted for a CVA, it seems likely that some of the company’s stores will close and rental on other stores will be renegotiated although the company have not stated that this is the case.
It has been an awful start to the year for many retailers including Poundworld, Mothercare, Carpet Right, New Look and others looking to CVA’s or else closing stores and slashing jobs.
House of Fraser currently has 59 stores in the UK and Ireland. There are more than 6,000 House of Fraser employees and 11,500 concession staff.
