Distressed textile giant PT Pan Brothers is closing in on its debt restructuring after seven months of negotiation with creditors, according to people familiar with the matter, as it works to avoid becoming the second Indonesian clothesmaker to be declared bankrupt this year.
Bloomberg
Creditors will vote Wednesday on the latest 8.6 trillion rupiah ($537 million) restructuring proposal by Pan Brothers, Bloomberg News reported earlier. It initially sought to take votes last month, but delayed the process after facing push-backs from some creditors including SC Lowy, as they demanded better terms, according to the people familiar who declined to be identified.
Key creditors including SC Lowy have given their verbal support for the latest plan, one of the people familiar said. If the votes pass on Wednesday, that could help Pan Brothers avert the fate of bankruptcy when the Indonesian government has vowed to save jobs in the struggling sector.
Among the key debt that the company is looking to settle are $171.1 million in outstanding principal on a dollar-denominated bond that will mature in December next year and $138.4 million syndicated facilities, according to a document seen by Bloomberg News. Under the revised proposal, bondholders are presented with an additional settlement option, which is to convert the existing notes with 7.625% coupon into entirely new ones with 15-year maturity at 1% annual interest, the document shows.
Pan Brothers didn’t respond to requests from Bloomberg News seeking comments. SC Lowy said in an emailed response that it’s successfully resolved all issues and is supportive of Pan Brothers’ debt plan.
The bondholders previously only had one option, which is to turn some part of the notes into new papers with 11-year maturity and and the rest into new mandatory convertible bonds, according to an exchange filing in November.
The revised proposal came after Coordinating Minister of Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto summoned representatives of the company and SC Lowy’s chief investment officer Soo Cheon Lee, for a meeting on Dec. 5 in Jakarta, according to people familiar with the matter. Hartarto said at the meeting that the government doesn’t want to see job losses from the current debt problem and will not bail out Pan Brothers should it fall into bankruptcy, according to one of the people familiar.
Hartarto declined to comment. SC Lowy declined to comment on the meeting with the minister “as it was a confidential discussion.”
Pan Brothers, which has supplied Ralph Lauren, Prada, Uniqlo and Adidas, currently employs around 27,000 people. Textile and clothing-related industries are the second-biggest employers in Indonesia’s manufacturing sector after food, according to the country’s statistics bureau.
The government previously gave its assurance that there would be no layoffs after PT Sri Rejeki Isman, a rival of Pan Brothers, was declared bankrupt by an Indonesian court in October. It also allowed Sri Rejeki to resume import and export operations despite the bankruptcy verdict.
An open intervention by the government to prop up a non-state owned company rarely happens in Indonesia. Still, the recent meetings may give signal of the president’s unwillingness to see another major bankruptcy and layoffs in the early days on his administration.
“The government doesn’t want to see bankruptcy and layoffs in the textile sector as the negative impact could reverberate to the wider economy,” according to Teddy Hariyanto, senior credit analyst at PT Mandiri Sekuritas. “Significant layoffs in this sector will push up overall unemployment numbers and that could become political issue for the new government.”
Burberry announced a key appointment on Friday with the luxury business saying it will soon have a new chief information officer.
Charlotte Baldwin
It has appointed Charlotte Baldwin to the role and she’ll join the business at the end of March. Baldwin will be responsible for leading Burberry’s global technology team and will join the executive committee. She’ll report directly to Burberry CEO Joshua Schulman.
He described her as “a highly experienced technology and digital leader with a track record of leading large-scale digital transformation”.
She hasn’t previously worked in the luxury fashion sector but has wide-ranging experience across some major-name businesses in Britain.
She’s currently the global chief digital and information officer at coffee chain Costa Coffee where she oversees the company’s technology, digital and data organisation.
Prior to joining that firm, she was the chief information, digital and transformation officer at private healthcare giant Bupa’s Bupa Insurance unit. She’s also held senior roles at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Pearson and Thomson Reuters.
Burberry has been navigating a tough period of late and Schulman joined in the top job last year, tweaking the firm’s strategy. His approach seems to be paying off with the company last week porting improved results, although the turnaround is still undeniable a work in progress.
Another day, another shopping centre delivering a “record-breaking” performance in 2024. This time it’s Gloucester Quays “capping off another year of considerable growth”, for the owner/operator Peel Retail & Leisure.
That included record Christmas trading at the key Gloucester mall, which helped overall sales for the year finish 6.7% ahead of the national average. Across November and December, retail sales grew 3.6% compared with 2023.
Looking at 2024 in total, an overall 7.4% year-on-year sales increase across its tenants was split between 6.1% for retail, and 8.5% for F&B.
But there was also double-digit growth from leading fashion, homewares, and outerwear brands including Next, Skechers, All Saints, Mountain Warehouse, Puma, Crew Clothing and Suit Direct.
It said sustained growth was seen across all categories “points to the increasing relevance of the Gloucester Quays experience”.
Paul Carter, asset director at Peel Retail & Leisure, added: “There have been various headlines this month about how challenged retail was around Christmas, so to have Gloucester Quays performing so well is a real credit to our team and our brands.
“These results also serve as a reminder of how relevant and in demand this outlet is. We have experienced consistent growth for several years, and that success can be put down to the quality of our offer and waterside environment. There is no doubt our catchment is responding to how we have evolved Gloucester Quays, as an urban outlet that combines a compelling shopping environment with dining and leisure to fit all tastes and needs, benefitting from a heritage waterside setting that few regionally can match.”
Italy’s Give Back Beauty, which makes perfumes for luxury brands such as Chopard and Zegna, on Friday said it had agreed to buy domestic rival AB Parfums to grow its distribution operations and add licensing deals.
Corrado Brondi, founder and president of Give Back Beauty
Fragrances have been outperforming the broader beauty sector and Give Back Beauty founder and Chairman Corrado Brondi told Reuters his company did not rule a possible bourse listing in the future, adding it had no financial need for it at present.
Brondi said AB Parfumes had sales of around €100 million, which would add to Give Back Beauty’s net revenues that totalled around €300 million in 2024.
Give Back Beauty, which was founded in 2019 and has a distribution deal with Dolce & Gabbana and a beauty license with Tommy Hilfiger, has a core profit margin currently a little over 15%, it said.
AB Parfums is being sold by Italy’s Angelini Industries, a family-owned group that is mostly active in the pharmaceutical sector.
Give Back Beauty’s business is currently focused on fragrances, which represent roughly 70% of its revenues, but it aims to grow its skincare, make-up and haircare product lines, Brondi said.
Entertainment8 years ago