Womenswear brand Bardot has successfully emerged from voluntary administration as an online-only store.
But at the height of its collapse late last year, voluntary administrators were forced to renegotiate rental terms amid a sale of business.
In a report to creditors, Deloitte revealed the depth of back-end negotiations as it collapsed around the Christmas trading period.
“Based on our analysis, we entered into negotiations with landlords to have the terms of the leases varied to incorporate discounts on the rental amounts.
“The majority of landlords were supportive of these requests, resulting in a large number of landlords accepting a mixture of fixed rent reductions and/or rents based on a turnover percentage for the administration period.”
The revelation comes at a time when retailers are battling for rental rates as a percentage of business.
It also reveals sustained interest in merger and acquisition activity within the sector, when exorbitant overheads are removed.
The closing date for indicative offers for Bardot was December 20, 2019.
A whopping 14 parties were shortlisted and undertook due diligence enquiries, with one trade party submitting a verbal offer.
Two trade parties (one of which submitted a verbal offer) advised additional time was required to undertake further analysis and due diligence ahead of formulating a non-binding indicative offer.
No final offers were received by the closing date of 24 January, 2020.
Parties who withdrew from the sale process expressed a general aversion to retail investment in the current economic climate.
Parties also noted difficulty in undertaking an accelerated process during the Christmas trading period.
To find out more about the Bardot administration, including factors leading up to the move and lessons for retailers, keep an eye out for our next print edition.