SECTOR

Retail

BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

Cath Kidston is a UK headquartered global retailer, with over 200 locations across 16 countries.

DATE

April 2020​​

SITUATION

• Cath Kidston is a UK headquartered global retailer, with over 200 locations across 16 countries. Increasing operational costs, investment in expansion overseas combined with a slow down in the UK Retail sector resulted in poor trading performance, with the business making losses.​​

A&M ROLE AND OUTCOME

• Prior to the Covid-19 crisis, the business was already facing liquidity pressures and the Board had been exploring alternative funding options. At the onset of the crisis, the Company faced an unprecedented reduction in sales as stores were forced to close and whilst the business mothballed itself, the Group was still facing a cash requirement in the short term. As a result, the Board approached A&M to advise on restructuring options.​

• The launch and delivery of an accelerated sale process for the business on either a solvent or insolvent basis. We approached over 100 parties within a few days and in total managed the interest of 118 parties.

• We generated offers from 7 parties during one of the most heightened periods of economic uncertainty and developed genuine competitive tension in the sales process in order to ensure the best outcome to creditors was achieved. We successfully transacted a Pre-Packaged sale of the brand and e-commerce business to Baring Private Equity Asia in April 2020. The transaction was one of the earliest examples of a distressed sale completed during lockdown, and was conducted almost entirely remotely.​