House of Fraser appoints Rothschild to refinance debt

House of Fraser has appointed independent financial advisory group Rothschild to advise it as the department store chain prepares to refinance its debt package.

Rothschild will advise the retailer on the refinancing of £225m of its £390m debt package, which matures in July 2019. Its remaining £165m publicly traded bond matures in 2020.

The UK department store recently displayed ‘disappointing’ sales over the Christmas period with a drop of 7.5%.

Since, the company’s credit insurer pulled its cover affecting 20 of the retailer’s 650 suppliers. Suppliers were then faced with the decision of finding new insurance or demanding payment from House of Fraser upfront.

House of Fraser’s credit rating was downgraded in December by rating agency Moodys from Caa1 to B3. It was also reported that in January the retailer asked several of its landlords for rent reductions.