Sir Philip Green is scurrying to pay back the £310 million loan on Topshop’s flagship store in London before Christmas. Green’s Arcadia group is in talks with specialist lenders, about refinancing the £310 million mortgage on its Oxford Street store which is due for repayment next month.
The mortgage was taken out in 2014 from a group of banks and had been due to expire last June but was prolonged as part of Arcadia’s CVA, which saw it shut down 48 stores and cut rent on 194 stores. Meanwhile, specialist lender US equity firm Apollo would be expected to demand a higher rate than a high street bank, and talks are likely to be complicated by the fact that Green gave Arcadia’s pension funds a charge over the building in the course of a £385 million deal with the Pensions Regulator.
In September, Arcadia recorded a full-year loss of £170 million, and sales 16.3 per cent in the 12 weeks to September 22, according to Kantar Worldpanel.PwC auditors warned at the time that if it was unable to refinance the Oxford Street loan, lenders would demand immediate repayment or take possession.
The flagship site is reportedly worth around £400 million.
