House of Fraser has drafted in Rothschild to assess refinancing a chunk of its debt pile, days after its credit insurance was cut.

The department store retailer has instructed the investment bank to examine £225m of its £390m debt, according to The Telegraph.

The debt is set to mature next July, while the remaining £165m worth of publicly traded bonds will mature in 2020.

It comes a month after Chinese owner Sanpower’s chairman Yuan Yafei stressed that the group remained “confident” in House of Fraser’s prospects despite a slump in festive sales.

Since then, the department store retailer has had its credit insurance cut and seen chief information officer Julian Burnett and chief operating officer Peter Gross both exit the business.

House of Fraser’s credit rating was downgraded to Caa1 from B3 by Moody’s in December.

The rating agency said House of Fraser was a very high credit risk and maintained a negative rating on its £165m publically traded bonds.

The retailer has kicked off a transformation plan in a bid to turn around its fortunes and has asked landlords for a rent reduction to alleviate financial pressures last month.

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