South Africa’s largest clothing retailer, Edcon, had a tumultuous 2016, narrowly avoiding business rescue. In a bid to save itself, it launched a compromise sanction process for the proposed restructuring of the group, approaching senior lenders with the offer of a shareholding in the company in exchange for a reduction in the debt owed to them.
Once the restructuring process is complete, Edcon's debt will fall from R29 billion to R7 billion. Some of the private equity investment firms and banks that will own Edcon are Franklin Templeton, Harvard Pension Fund, Barclays Africa and FirstRand.
Edcon has said it is on track to implement the restructuring agreement during the course of January.
Pictured: Edcon CEO, Bernie Brookes
