Bondholders want talks on the future of Matalan - report

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Jun 12, 2022

Value fashion and lifestyle retailer Matalan is facing questions from investors over its financing. Two groups of lenders want answers to how the retailer is scheduling debt repayments in the face of rising inflation and economic hardship, according to Sky News.

Matalan's senior bondholders are said to be lining up Perella Weinberg Partners to advise them on their options with a £350 million repayment, due to take place early next year.

Meanwhile, more junior lenders, that are said to be owed about £80 million, are also close to appointing Houlihan Lokey to advise them.

The founder of the privately-owned retailer, John Hargreaves, is likely to need to inject tens of millions of pounds of additional funding into it in order to retain outright control of the company, city analysts told the broadcaster.

Another problem for Hargreaves is that he lost a legal battle in February and must pay £135 million tax in capital gains tax on the sale of £231 million of Matalan shares stretching back as far back as 2000.

At the time, Matalan said “it is continuing to monitor market conditions with respect to a potential refinancing of its outstanding indebtedness.”

In the last set of published results in January, Malalan said it delivered a “strong" Q3, which included the Christmas trading period, with revenues jumping 19% year-on-year to £291.4 million.