Frasers Group is looking to tighten its grip on Debenhams, formerly Boohoo, by offering a cash injection amid the retailer’s debt refinancing talks.
The retail giant has demanded a meeting with the retailer’s non-executive chairman Tim Morris to discuss the possibility of becoming a lender to the business, The Telegraph reported.
Frasers wrote to Morris in a letter via lawyers White & Case that it “has been seeking to arrange an urgent meeting between Mr Ashley and you as the chairman of Boohoo for several weeks”.
It said it was “seeking an urgent meeting to engage with Boohoo on a number of urgent matters including the refinancing of Boohoo’s debt and/or an injection of additional monies if required”.
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“Frasers stands ready and able to assist Boohoo with any refinancing in order that Boohoo has a suitable and sustainable path forward,” it added.
It comes as Debenhams is in discussions about a securing a debt package worth as much as £175m. Around £50m is to come from an asset-backed lender, who take security over company property.
It is expected the remaining £125m will come from refinancing an existing two-year loan taken out in October, which was described by the group’s largest shareholder Mike Ashley as “the worst refinancing deal that a public company has done in living memory”.
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