LONDON - The company that owns the iconic Selfridges department store on London’s Oxford Street is asking its parent Central Group for more cash due to the insolvency of its other owner, Signa.
Cambridge Properties Holding Ltd is in discussions with the Thai retail group for future financing to meet upcoming debt payments, according to accounts filed this week. Signa Prime Selection AG applied for insolvency on Thursday.
“Discussions are not yet finalised, and significant uncertainty therefore exists in relation to the financial support that the group will require,” the filing said.
The potential cash crunch at Selfridges is just one element of the fallout from the rapid collapse of the Signa empire of Austrian investor Rene Benko. A loose alliance of property holdings, Signa holds stakes in a diverse range of assets including prime German retail projects and the Chrysler Building in the US. Some of its units filed for insolvency more than a month ago.
It also shows how some business partners may act on Signa’s troubles to help keep co-investments afloat, or even take them over.
Central Group bought Selfridges along with Signa in 2022, and together they co-own the property as well as the operating business. Interest payments on the property company’s £2.2 billion ($2.8 billion) in debt have soared since then, leaving it dependent on support from its owners.
“This does not change anything for Selfridges. Selfridges trades independently from its shareholders,” said a spokesperson for the department store.
“We are delighted to have the ongoing and unwavering support of Central Group.”
Central Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Thai company stepped in to help with interest payments that came due in November, providing a shareholder loan note of £27.3 million, according to the filing on Wednesday. That loan can be converted to equity when it comes due in May 2024.
Central Group has already converted a similar shareholder loan to the operating side of the business to equity, allowing it to take a majority stake last month.
Cambridge Properties Holding’s debt load includes two external bank loans held by subsidiaries, both of which are floating-rate and mature next year. It also has a £400-million mezzanine loan facility provided by a company linked to Central Group, though the accounts don’t say how much of that has been drawn.
In the filing, the company said that the financial distress of the Signa group may cast significant doubt on Signa Prime’s ability to provide support and honour the guarantee it provided in relation to a loan from Bangkok Bank.
All three pillar organisations in the Signa conglomerate — Prime, Holding and Development — have applied for insolvency and a self-managed restructuring in Austria.
Accounts restated
Auditors from KPMG said the accounts gave a fair and true view of the company’s business and had been prepared in line with regulation. They noted, as part of a mandatory screening for potential fraud, that risks emerged from the valuation of investment properties, a lease incentive payment in response to a related-party transaction and the acquisition of the property group.
Cambridge Properties Holding booked a revaluation gain of £282 million by the end of 2022, months after completing the purchase of Selfridges from the Canada-based Weston Family, according to a footnote to the financial accounts. Central and Signa paid close to £4 billion for Selfridges, Bloomberg reported in 2021.
The Selfridges spokesperson declined to comment on the auditor’s report.
The department store chain, founded in 1908 by Wisconsin-born Harry Gordon Selfridge, is best-known for the giant Oxford Street outlet which for decades was synonymous with high-end London retail. Three other stores in Manchester and Birmingham also carry the Selfridges name.