V&D rescue talks fail, ending 130 years of retail history

DutchNews, February 16, 2016

Talks on restarting bankrupt department store group V&D ended on Tuesday afternoon after negotiations between the receivers and retail investor Roland Kahn ended without result. 

The failure to relaunch the company ends V&D’s 130 year history and puts some 8,000 people out of a job. 

The receivers said in a statement that had been ‘impossible to solve the puzzle involving potential buyers, landlords and banks’ and the company would now be dismantled. 

Landlords

The talks ran into trouble on Monday when it emerged the owners of 15 of the 45 properties which Kahn wanted to take over refused to back the deal. In addition, the banks had not reached agreement with Kahn over the financing, the Volkskrant said. 

V&D was declared bankrupt at the end of 2015 after its owner, private equity group Sun Capitol refused to put any more money into the company. 

Sun Capital took over V&D in 2010 and has since invested €165m in the stores, of  almost half is in the form of four loans. 

History 

V&D stands for Vroom en Dreesmann, one of the largest department store chains in the Netherlands. The empire was created in 1887 when Amsterdam shop owners and brothers-in-law Willem Vroom and Anton Dreesmann joined forces.

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