Fashion group SMCP stresses value creation amid debt wranglings (updated)
06/10/2021 12:52
(Adds detail)
PARIS, Oct 6 (Reuters) - French fashion company SMCP
SMCP.PA , whose brands include Sandro and Maje, moved to
reassure shareholders that it continues to focus on its long
term strategy, even as it expects that 37% of its shares could
change hands from Oct. 19.
"SMCP reminds that this situation does not affect its own
financing and operations," said the company.
SMCP shares rose as much as 10% on Tuesday, their highest
level in months, on expectations its financially strapped
majority owner Shandong Ruyi 002193.SZ was on its way out.
The Chinese textile and clothing manufacturer confirmed
Tuesday that its unit European TopSoho had failed to redeem 250
million euros of bonds exchangeable into SMCP shares.
This means the owners of the bonds will become -- at least
temporarily -- owners of shares in SMCP, though sources say they
will look to offload them to a buyer.
"Value creation for all of the Group's stakeholders
(shareholders, employees and other partners) is at the heart of
the company's strategy. SMCP and its teams remain fully
committed to the implementation of the One Journey strategic
plan to 2025," it said in a statement.
A company called Glas SAS, which said it was acting as a
trustee for the bondholders, said in a release to the French
market regulator on Tuesday that it could exercise voting rights
equal to just under 29% of SMCP.
Glas said the bondholders it represents did not want as a
group to launch an offer to take over the company, which any
owner above 30% would have to do.
This leaves them searching for a buyer for the stake,
through a legal process that will be managed under British
jursidiction.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, and Mimosa Spencer. editing by
Louise Heavens and Jason Neely)
((sudip.kargupta@thomsonreuters.com; +33 1 49 49 53 84;))