High street fashion brand All Saints has been issued an
ultimatum by Lloyds Banking Group, which controls the firm's £28.5m
working capital facility: All Saints must complete a rescue buy-out
deal by Tuesday evening or face administration.
Lloyds Banking Group has turned up the heat on All Saints to
find buyers for stakes owned by Kaupthing and Glitnir, the failed
Icelandic banks.
The search for fresh investment has been ongoing, but Lloyds
cracked down on the fashion brand last week after US billionaire
Michael Dell's investment firm, MSD, pulled out of a consortium led
by US private equity firm Goode Partners. M1, a group co-founded by
the former Lebanese prime minister, also left the table.
The deadline has been set for Tuesday, April 27. KPMG is already
on standby to initiate administration proceedings as early as
Wednesday morning.
Stephen Craig, All Saints' chief executive, has been working on
a deal over the Easter weekend. He's courting two investors: the
names being bandied around are Sun Capital and Lion Capital.
All Saints employs about 2,000 staff and has 63 stores and 47
concessions in the UK, Europe, US and Russia.
IF the Goode Partners deal is successful, Goode will share
control of All Saints with Kevin Stanford, the retail magnate who
co-founded the Karen Millen chain with his ex-wife of the same
name.
The partnership is expected to ease some of the financial
pressure on the business by paying off some of its £53 million debt
pile.