RE: INTU6 Jun 2020 16:11
The company is an important player in some of the UK's largest regional economies, employing nearly 3,000 people directly - but with a further 102,000 people working in its 17 UK shopping centres.
Another 30,000 people work in Intu's broader supply chain.
This week, Intu published figures showing that a standstill agreement would leave it with enough cash to continue operating, even after a calamitous rent quarter day in March, when it received less than a third of the money it was owed by retail tenants.
The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted a vast chunk of Britain's retail industry to withhold rent payments, with names such as Sir Philip Green's Arcadia Group, Boots The Chemist, New Look and McDonald's choosing not to pay landlords.
June's quarter day, in just over a fortnight, could be even bloodier for the balance sheets of retail landlords like Intu and Hammerson, which owns big shopping centres in Birmingham and Brent Cross.
In recent months, bondholders within the various Intu SPVs have appointed advisers to represent their interests as a full-scale financial restructuring has become inevitable.
Even if the listed parent company is forced to appoint administrators, the implications for its individual assets are far from clear.
People close to the company believe its lending syndicate is likely to demur from forcing it into insolvency because of the potential value destruction that would occur.
Securing alternative managers of large shopping centres as the retail sector attempts to recover from COVID-19 would be an uncertain process, according to insiders.
It is unclear whether an alternative asset manager with Intu's expertise or negotiating power would be available.
Intu's fall from grace has been startling.
It was a constituent of the London stock market's FTSE-250 index until last year.
Its largest shareholder is John Whittaker, the Peel Group magnate who sold the Trafford Centre to what was then called Capital Shopping Centres in 2011.
Mr Whittaker could emerge from a restructuring of Intu owning the Manchester shopping destination again.
Earlier this year, Intu tried to raise £1.5bn from an emergency equity-raising, but found its hopes dashed amid turmoil in financial markets caused by the developing coronavirus crisis.
The company recently brought in David Hargrave, a restructuring veteran, to oversee its efforts to stay afloat.
Intu declined to comment on Saturday.
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