Debenhams is expected to launch a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) later today to close stores and cut costs, It comes after Debenhams’ lenders paid £101.8m and took on £520m of debt and pension obligations for the group in a pre-pack administration deal on 9 April.
Store closures are expected to begin after Christmas and Debenhams has said 50 will be affected. Meanwhile, having secured the refinancing deal, Debenhams chief executive Sergio Bucher announced last week that he would step down from the struggling department store chain. A search has begun for his successor. In the meantime, current non-executive chairman Terry Duddy will assume the role of interim executive chairman. Debenhams has since confirmed that a CVA will not be launched today, but can instead be expected by the end of this month.
