The new owner of struggling high-street retailer British Home Stores has secured a loan of around £60m to aid its turnaround plan.
The loss-making company said that when added to cash reserves, the funding from Grovepoint Credit, the speciality lending arm of Grovepoint Capital, gives it working capital of more than £85m.
It comes some six months after the chain was sold for £1 by the retail veteran Sir Philip Green to a little-known group called Retail Acquisitions, which is backed by a number of investors, including brokers and lawyers.
Despite concerns that the sale heralded a break-up of the department store group, the company insists it has a three-year turnaround plan to steer the group back into the black and restore it to its “rightful place” on the British high street.
The owner of Retail Acquisitions, Dominic Chappell, said: “This is a major step forward for BHS. All of the money raised from Grovepoint will be invested in the business.”
The loan is understood to have been secured against 10 of BHS’s stores.
Over the next three years the group will modernise its shops, including changing the frontages and rebranding from BHS to British Home Stores. Food will also be introduced to at least 20 of the 170 UK stores by the end of 2015.
