House of Fraser has announced plans to shut 31 of its 59 UK and Ireland stores, impacting around 6000 jobs, in a restructuring deal that will give control of the retail chain to C.banner. The company voluntary arrangement (CVA) proposals follow last month’s announcement regarding C.banner’s conditional agreement to acquire a 51 per cent stake in House of Fraser and its intention to introduce significant new capital. Frank Slevin, the House of Fraser chairman, said C.banner’s investment was “a vote of confidence in our prospects”.
The 169-year-old department store chain said it underwent a comprehensive review of its property portfolio and found it was unsustainable in its current form. The CVA also includes proposals to relocate the Baker Street head office and the Granite House office in Glasgow to new locations in order to further reduce costs. The consultation on the CVA proposal will take place over the next 17 days and House of Fraser will seek approval from its creditors on June 22.
