Monsoon landlords call for equity stake ahead of CVA

Four landlords, including British Land, Hammerson, M&G Investments and Roubaix Group, have joined forces to negotiate improved terms with the owner of the struggling fashion chain Peter Simon, according to Sky News.

A letter written on behalf of the four, who between them own a large number of Monsoon Accessorize stores, was sent to Simon this week with a request for a shareholding stake in the business, should any financial restructuring be agreed.

A source close to one of the named landlords said the group wrote to Monsoon “asking to engage with them early. One of the suggestions is equity, given landlords will be largely funding the turnaround”.

The source said the initial conversations were “general at this stage” but had similarities with ones previously had with Arcadia.

In a bid to win support of landlords for rent reductions ahead of any proposed CVA, Monsoon founder Simon last week offered to inject £34m worth of rescue funds into the business.

The struggling retailer, which is working with Deloitte on a possible financial restructuring, pledged to pump £25m worth of new funding into stores, with a further £9m available if needed.

The fashion chain currently operates 271 stores, including 126 larger dual-format Monsoon Accessorize stores, which are understood be among its worst-performing across the estate.

Monsoon saw a loss of £10.5m before tax on sales of £423.8m in the 2017 financial year, according to its most recent set of accounts.